The jokes on you
by kiwikid
Summary: The weapon of the future is not the gun or bomb it is the computer. When IMFs chief programmer is murdered leaving an infiltrating program shutting down IMFs systems Ethan finds himself up against an enemy he cannot see and does not understand. The only hint to finding the answers seems to lie in the hands of a fellow agent. Set after Ghost Protocol featuring team Hunt.
1. Chapter 1

Mission Impossible-The jokes on you

The weapon of the future is not the gun or bomb it is the computer. IMF chief programmer Markus Drey has been murdered leaving an infiltrating program shutting down IMF systems.

A still recovering Ethan finds himself up against anenemy he cannot see and does not understand. The only key to finding out answers seemingly rests in familiar hands.

Set after Ghost Protocol and including team Ethan, (Jane ,Benji, Brandt). Special appearance by Luther

I do not own the IMF ,just having fun. All records of my actions will be disavowed this message will self destruct in….

Chapter 1.

Master of pretense

Dropping his house keys into the plant pot Ethan Hunt sat down on a tall high chair. He had just come home after a 10 mile jog. Getting back into shape after injuring himself during Ghost protocol had been harder than he'd expected. The new secretary had even given him some less than subtle hints that perhaps he should start to consider applying for a non field based job. There were a range of other positions suitable for someone with his experience. One of the jobs on offer was giving advice and training to IMFs newest recruits. One look at them had for an instant made Ethan feel lke he was getting old. Maybe he should think of retiring from active missions. It was better to go out on top than to either die or suddenly realize you had lost your touch and were compromising a mission. But thinking through the pros and cons Ethan came to one conclusion, he was not ready to give it all up yet. He believed he had what it took to be in the field a few years longer. The secretary accepted his response but made it clear that remaining in the field was acceptable if he passed all the physical tests. Those tests contained some elements that were physically challenging .That did not give Ethan any anxiety instead he vowed to pass all the tests with the highest grade possible.

He was about to get up and pour himself a cold drink when his 'normal' phone rang. Picking it up Ethan answered quite breezily "hello". " Good morning this is Eat right Pizza your order number 121 is ready for pick up , click". A coldness that had nothing to do with his body cooling off after his run began to fill him, the call had been from IMF and not come through the usual channels. Order number 121 meant do not attempt to make contact under any circumstances. It was the same order other agents would have received during ghost protocol when IMF was disavowed. Something very similar must have happened now. Normally he would have to lay low and wait until things returned to normal. However the message of 'pick up' indicated he needed to attend a meeting. To obtain the location all he had to do was arrange "eat right pizza" into a set of coordinates. That took him hardly two seconds then he was off out of his apartment again not knowing when or even if he'd return.

The dilapidated building he arrived at 1 hour later smelt of rotting garbage and worse. This was a remote part of town where many buildings were being demolished to make way for new freeways. There was no sign of any cars in the vicinity but Ethan knew that meant nothing. His senses tuned to high alert as he climbed over the barriers around the building warning "danger do not enter" . Broken bottles and rotting food lay all over the ground and the smell almost had him gagging. Large pieces of broken glass in his path meant he had to constantly change his movement through the building . A half rotten carcass of a dead dog lay before him now. It had no eyes and its body had been eaten away by little teeth leaving a gaping hole out of where intestines trailed. Any sensible person would turn back now. Ethan just ignored the surroundings knowing they were there to put off any nosy people. Ahead of him now was a door that looked like it may fall off its hinges at any moment. When pushing the door did not yield any results he knew that appearances were deceptive and this door was a lot stronger than it looked. Running his hands down the frame he found a small button which he pushed to reveal a retinal scanner.

After his identity was confirmed he entered into the room beyond. A large space devoid of any of the equipment that was usually part of any IMF mission greeted him. In fact all the room did feature was two rickety looking chairs and a desk that was propped up by four large bricks. On one chair sat a very worried looking secretary. Ethan felt his concern etch up another notch, this was definitely not normal. He kept his face impassive as he came to stand before the secretary. "Please sit Mr Hunt, I do not wish to waste any further time", the secretary requested. A loud creaking sound from the chair filled the air as he sat carefully. The secretary pulled out a laptop, "had you tried to contact IMF Mr Hunt, this is what would have happened". As Ethan watched the IMF logo appeared, so far nothing out of the ordinary. However seconds later the logo vanished to be replaced by 5 large pink rabbits singing 'run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run ,run', in off key voices and dancing a high energy rapid dance. It was almost funny until the secretary told him, "this program has infiltrated our entire system effectively bringing our computer based services to a standstill. Our best programmers have all tried to get into the IMF system without success."We believe this program to be some type of virus. It does not appear to be affecting the systems other than denying access. But we do not know if this will change in the future. Naturally without our systems IMF is completely blind".

Now Ethan understood why the secretary was so pale with our network down all of field agents would be without any types support or communication during their missions. If they got into trouble they would be on their own. He knew that shutting down during ghost protocol had cost several agents their lives. IMF could not afford to have their network down again for any extended period of time. The secretary began speaking again telling him, "you were amongst the few agents whose present location is 100 percent accurate without relying on computer data and the only one contactable with short notice." I realize you have yet to requalify for full mission status but we need you agent Hunt."

This secretary was new to the job and had only just got operations up to their full capacity after ghost protocol. Now months later IMF systems were again being compromised. It was a scenario Ethan would not wish on anyone. Ethan preferred a gun fight to a battle waged through a computer.

It was not something he could easily understand, yet he still need to help. It was always best to start with the easy questions.

"Do we know what happened sir, was it some sort of attack", he asked. For a reply the secretary tapped another button on his computer and showed Ethan a particularly gruesome photo of a deceased man. His features were barely recognizable and a mass of wounds traversed his body. None of the wounds would have been immediately fatal on there own however in combination the blood loss would have been significant. "Local authorities found the body outside their front door early this morning. Blood tests have determined that he is Mr Markus Drey who was our chief programmer ,responsible for maintaining everything that requires computerized control. He is a brilliant man who knew how protect IMF from any sort of computer based attack, unfortunately the same knowledge could be used against us . The singing bunny program has his unique signature all over it. Drey always did have a rather warped sense of humor. It looks very much like he may have been compromised by persons unknown who have forced him to activate this program. These people have then killed him so he cannot undo the damage". Drey writes shut down codes into all programs of this type. All we can do is try and find the people responsible hoping they hold the deactivation codes. Naturally our own programmers will continue to try and gain access. To try and solve the puzzle of what happened we must follow Drey's trail."

"Since our IMF internal security cameras are not linked to our networks we can still access them and obtain a picture of his movements up until 7pm last night." More buttons were clicked and Ethan found himself watching footage of a typical day in the 'control room' of IMF headquarters.

This large circular room was where technicians, programmers and analysts worked side by side to bring together all of the elements needed to run and maintain the average IMF mission as well as all the other essential parts of a covert agency. It was a busy place but Ethan quickly picked out Markus Drey tapping away at a console on the far side of the room.

"He is just undertaking his regular work, nothing out of the ordinary", the secretary reported. As the minutes passed watching soon became tedious . Ethan could hardly say 'hey this is boring' so just maintained his observation. "The day continued like this, an average typical day". At approximately 5 minutes to 7 Markus met up with his body guard agent Harrison Xander".

Xander was about 56 with graying blonde hair. 'Ethan's mind began to whirr, if someone had set up Markus Drey then a bodyguard must be top of the list. He did not even hesitate in thinking up betrayal from with IMFs own ranks, he had experienced it himself. "Did Xander report any unusual activity regarding Drey", he asked. "No Agent Hunt and before you ask there was no sign of Xander having contact with any undesirables", the secretary obviously thought along the same lines. "Xander had been Markus's bodyguard for 4 years now. He was pulled off activity duty due to injury and reassigned". I am sure that at first being relegated to a minder was difficult. But he became very close to Markus Drey. The two were planning to have a drink to celebrate his birthday ."

"The closeness could have been a ploy", Ethan stubbornly held Xander in the 'suspect box". Perhaps that was because he knew he would feel resentful if he had been forcibly sidelined. But no matter how he felt he would never betray IMF or his country. Maybe though Xander was not like him.

"It could have been , but I doubt it was", the secretary told him firmly. "I do not consider Xander as a suspect".

The video footage continued now showing IMF's car park. Markus Drey was moving around to the left rear side of a car while Xander was heading for the drivers side. 'That brought another question to mind, why was Drey in the back and sitting on the far side from his guard. 'Hold on a minute", Ethan thought he had the answer to the question. As he watched he saw another hand reach out and grasp the handle of the right rear side door. The video footage had not at any time shown another person but clearly someone else had been with them. "Do we know the identity of the third person", he asked the secretary. In his mind anyone who was good enough not to get noticed by IMF security had to be suspect number one.

"Keep watching", the tone of that request sent an icy shiver down Ethan's spine. The hand pulled the door open and then the rest of the previously unseen man's body followed. For a split second he froze looking up at the camera. Ethan's heart almost stopped on the spot as he clearly identified William Brandt. "Analyst Brandt's agent status had yet to be activated and thus we have made use of his expertise to get back to full function after our ghost protocol shut down". He is a friend of Markus Drey and was invited to join Xander and he for drinks", the secretary announced softly.

Ethan's mouth was dry as suspicion faded from his mind. He may have not known Brandt that long but there was no way he would ever betray them by setting up another man. It was his reaction to believing he had killed his wife that cemented that thought in Ethans' mind, Brandt would not be able to live with the guilt. But even though he dismissed Brandt's involvement did the secretary agree with him. "I hope you do not consider that Brandt could be responsible", he asked. The head shake he got lifted a weight from his mind. "Brandts movements have been monitored and he is cleared of any suspicion".

Blowing out an audible sigh of relief Ethan moved onto the harder questions, "do we have a status on Brandt and Xander", he asked. "As you know all official cars are fitted with their own cameras. However all we have recovered at this stage is Drey's body. By dumping it on the door of the local authorities whoever is responsible is making sure the murder receives attention. This naturally makes it harder for us to investigate without drawing unwanted attention."

Ethan ignored that problem for the moment remaining focused on the agents and Xander would have both had their IMF phones. "What about fixing a location through GPS", he asked.

"We are not getting a signal Agent Hunt". "It seems this is not going to be that easy. I suggest we start with Drey's apartment . The local authorites have already searched but do not look at things through the same eyes as you do Hunt. If there is any information on the singing bunnies it may be hidden somewhere."Help us find out who is responsible for this and bring our systems back on line". It sounded almost like the secretary was begging.

To Ethan there was never any question of choosing to accept this mission, he needed to find out what had happened to his newest team mate.

Unfortunately there were very few reasons for anyone to want to take Brandt or Xander captive. Yes they undoubtedly knew classified information but being trained agents meant they would die before they would reveal anything. Also with the dancing bunny program being activated IMF was at a standstill anyway and all agents were at risk. Therefore keeping Brandt and Xander captive would gain an enemy nothing.

His mind did not want to carry that thought any further. But that did not stop him seeing it in the secretary's eyes. Then the man just had to go and make things worse by saying it, "I am sorry agent Hunt but I believe that Agents Xander and Brandt are also dead".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two- living a lie

Scene… IMF headquarters .. classified location… setting the previous day

Pretending was easy, anyone could do it at anytime, a lot of people did. They lived in fantasy worlds in online games, books or movies. For him the pretense came in assuming another persona, William Brandt analyst was a very different man to the Brandt who had been an agent. He had molded and shaped his analyst side making use of having a photographic memory. Of course the shaping had required a little surgery and that had been moving himself away from anybody who had ever known he was an agent. He had relocatedto another State beginning work in a new branch of the IMF. He could walk in the door of the 'control room' and they only saw Brandt the analyst and would never believe he could ever have been an agent. His mask was in place every single day and he never once let it slip. He supposed he should be proud of the fact that even Ethan Hunt had never guessed he was an agent until that one moment when everything had changed. Thinking about that moment Brandt realized that if things had been different perhaps Ethan never would have realized the truth.

Flashback Burj Hotel ..mission..Ghost Protocol

The plan was all set out, Jane was going to double Moreau and Benji was going to double Wistrom using masks. Ethan was going to support Benji while he sat quite safely in the hotel room being a 'helper' by watching the security cameras. It all sounded a perfectly safe thing for an analyst to do. He could not help pick up the others, "oh no not an analyst vibe" that had been present since he had found himself with them. They obviously felt they had to keep him well away from any type of danger in case he freaked out. He supposed that impression might have come from the fact that he flinched every time Ethan came near him. Of course none of them knew about his history with the agent and he was not about to tell them.

So he contented himself by doing exactly what they wanted him to do. Then came the moment he referred to as 'the window episode' when he found himself saving Hunt's life. Ethan had been obviously shaken by the whole thing but had recovered his composure quickly and gone off to talk to Jane and Benji.

Watching them from across the room Brandt could pick up from their expressions how the conversation was going. At first Benji had seemed happy then his expression had changed and a frown had appeared, Jane also had one on her face. Whatever Ethan was talking about, the others did not like what he was telling them. When three pairs of eyes suddenly centred on him, he got the very uncomfortable idea he had been the topic of their conversation.

"Brandt I'd like to talk to you", Ethan was beckoning him over. Benji and Jane had backed off into a corner and were still frowning. Ethan sat in a chair and gestured for him to do the same. He had backed the seat up a bit more first though giving himself more distance from Ethan. It was the guilty thought that he's going to beat me to a pulp when he finds out about not protecting his wife that brough on that response . Before he could sit down Ethan moved the chair back and he found himself inches from the agent. His fingers had began a nervous pitter patter on his leg and his eyes were unable to focus on Ethan roaming the room restlessly. Surely he doesn't know, the thought paralysed his mind. "Look at me please", Ethans request had him reluctantly meeting his gaze. "As you know I had already laid out how this mission should go", Ethan told him. He nodded, okay so far this was alright. "However the fact the Burj has a high grade security system has forced me to rethink a few things." Ethan leaned his whole body forward at that time and his knees had brushed his own. For some strange reason his heart was beating even faster.

"Do you think you could handle correcting the system on Benji's laptop if things went wrong", Ethan's tone was serious. "No", Brandt did not have to think very long about that. He did of course possess computer skills but they were no were near the same league as the former technician. "That's what I thought", Ethan declared. Now his eyes were studying him seriously and Brandt felt his heart beat pick up yet again. His face though had his best neutral expression firmly in place. "Benji is going to have to stay here and monitor the laptop", Ethan told him. Now Brandt understood why Benji had looked so disappointed. He had an almost boyish joy about wearing a mask. Now he was relegated to working a support role. So that meant…., Brandt's analyst brain was working through all possible scenarios. A horrible conclusion was beginning to enter his mind, "I am just a helper", he found that slipping out before Ethan could say anything else. "Yes and I will need your help. I want you in that room when I meet with Moreau", Ethan had said the horrible thing quite calmly. "That's crazy, I am just an analyst", the protest was a little harsher than he intended. Ethan's hand moved forward to touch his own ,but only rested for a second before he pulled his hand away. Anxiety was peaking within him, there was no way he could do this. Ethan must have seen his neutral expression slip and terror slip in. But his voice did not change it's intensity telling him, "look Brandt it should all go smoothly enough. You look over the codes and make a copy of them using the lens camera".

"We give Moreau the diamonds, we take the codes", When he said it like that it did sound simple. But Brandt was not being taken in by that, "she's not alone". They had discovered that when Benji had observed the men going into her room. "It's is understandable for a woman like her to have body guards Brandt. They are just there to make sure we don't try and just take the codes by force. If anything does go wrong I want you to jump behind one of the chairs and let me deal with them", Ethan was explaining it all calmly and patiently in a tone reserved for a young frightened child. His response was an angry protest,"you want me to hide behind a chair". He knew Ethan had not said the word 'hide' and for a minute found himself shocked. That was most definitely not his analyst side speaking. He had thought his agent side well controlled. Ethan had a frustrated look upon his face now. "Look Brandt I am not saying you are a coward or anything". But these guys are killers with years of training in combat moves, there is no way you can deal with them. So just do as I say and jump behind the chair".

He should be quite satisfied and accepting of Ethans request. He knew from reading his files that the team leader was capable of dealing with the bodyguards on his own. So why then did, "they will also have guns Ethan", slip out of his mouth. "Yes that is true, I can't deny there is no danger for you Brandt. But I need Benji on that computer, Jane needs to double Moreau and that just leaves you. This is out of your experience, but sometimes things happen and you have to go with a new plan. That is the reality of missions Brandt". It was a subtle way of telling him that analyst's don't know anything about actually being on a mission. Oh boy if only Ethan knew how untrue that one was. His protest had not come from self preservation but more from the fact that Ethan might need help. That too was surprising ,his agent side was not so easy to deny.

However his strong sense of self preservation won the day, if he admitted to being an agent then he'd have to confess the rest. He'd do it when this was all over ."Alright", he agreed to the crazy plan.

Awhile later with the lens uncomfortably scratching his eye, he was following Ethan down a corridor to Moreau's room. Ethan was stomping rather louder than necessary an indication he was still angry about the 'brief case incident". Gosh Brandt knew how hard he had pushed Ethan about the decision to use real codes. He had risked Ethan actually deciding to physically deal with him to get the case back.

Part of him wondered what would have happened if Ethan had decided to attack him. "Remember do as I instructed you", Ethan hissed under his breath as they arrived at the door.

He found his icy calmness descending as he was patted down by the bodyguards. Then he went onto play his role. Everything seemed to be following the correct pattern though he did not like how Moreau kept looking at him. When he stood up to take the papers at the conclusion of the business she looked straight into his eyes. It was at the moment that everything changed as the body guards attacked. He was of course going to do exactly what Ethan had instructed, dive behind the chair. But even though his brain was saying jump his body was attacking. Thinking back he hardly remembered the fight . But he had realised that no matter how hard he had tried to suppress his agent side, it was still alive and actually amazingly awesome.

The second the fight had ended though his fear returned. He knew without a doubt from the look on Ethans face that he had been just thrown curve ball. There was no way any analyst could fight the way he had. The confrontation was not going to come then but sooner or later it would.

Of course the analyst side had initially wanted to blubber and hide when an angry Ethan had demanded in the old tatty hotel room "and you're just an analyst right". He had settled for pretending he had no idea what Ethan was talking about. That had earnt him a gun in his face. Once again his agent training had leapt in and he had found himself quite calmly pointing the gun back at Ethan. Benji was looking quite horrified while Jane trained her gun on him. He had fooled them as well but now the charade was over, the analyst had gone to be replaced by the agent.

….real time control room IMF headquarters

Snapping back to reality Brandt looked around the control room. Agents and those who worked in here were like oil and water, supporting each other but never mixing. They would hardly talk to him once they knew the truth. There was a certain amount of sorrow in that as he had made good friends in here.

"Hey Brandt remember we are meeting for drinks later", programmer Markus Drey called over to him. Markus was one of those friends. He had been the one to show Brandt around on his very first day. Seven years younger than him Markus still surprisingly had pimples looked like the stereotype of a nerd. He and Brandt the agent were poles apart and that was just fine. The thing he liked the most about Markus was his sense of humour, it was very dry and often a little wicked. He could think up the most warped jokes to play on people. His weapon of choice was naturally the computer leaving funny emails, or little programs for others to find. It annoyed alot of people and left Drey with only two real friends himself and his 'bodyguard' Agent Harrison Xander.

Brandt was always guarded around Xander making sure his 'just an analyst face was well in place. In his mind he could relate to Xander as he was no longer able to undertake missions. His life seemed to follow the same monotonous path of looking after Drey. Markus was always trying to 'cheer' up Xander and had been planning something special for his birthday.

Slipping his mind back into work mode Brandt got busy.

Hours later he walked down to the IMF carpark. Markus had a cheshre cat grin on his face as he settled beside him in the car. "Whats going on", Brandt asked apprehensively.

"Oh just my birthday plan for…",he pointed over at Xander.

Markus then turned to look him over seriously, "are you trying to rival me in the jokes department", he asked.

Brandt had never in his life played a joke on anyone and had no idea what Markus was talking about.

"No", he replied. "Well I heard a funny one about you Brandt. Brock told me that you were an agent ha, ha", Markus shook his head and laughed loudly.

It was only then that Brandt realized that perhaps he pretended rather too well.

He did not have much more time to think on that as Xander drove the car out into the night.

"Lets goto our regular place, should be quiet tonight", Markus stated. They drove on for another ten minutes. We are going to run into some heavy traffic", Xander sighed as the volume of cars buit around them and they slowed. "Lets take secret spy exit no 5", Markus suggested with a grin. He was always labelling things with funny little names like that. Xander gave a half choked grunt, he knew what Markus meant. It was the quiet little alley not really meant to be used as a road. But desparate motorists often risked the high fines to cut through the busy streets.

Tonight secret spy exit no 5 was quiet, a relection perhaps that the penalties had increased. "We may get into trouble", Xander suddenly found apprehension descending. "Naah come on Xander I don't fancy being stuck at a standstill for hours", Markus protested. Brandt had to admit neither did he.

So Xander drove the car down the alley. The noise of the street faded away around them and there wasno sign of any other cars. 'See this is nice", Markus declared. Brandt found himself feeling tense for some reason he did not understand.

"Relax, what's wrong with you, Marlus noticed his figeting. "Nothing", Brandt declared looking around at the backs of deserted buildings. His agent side was feeling twitchy but he could not decide why, everything seemed normal.

Seconds later he decided he'd been right as a large dumpster came hurtling down the alley toward them.

"Shit", Xander planted both feet on the cars breaks. As they slowed three men came out of nowhere ripping the doors open to plant themselves beside them with guns drawn.

"Stop the car", one ordered as he held a gun firmly to Xanders head. Brandt could see Xander tensing and decided his agent side was warring with himself. One of the options was increasing speed hoping to throw the men off balance. But with the huge dumpster in their path all that would happen was a crash.

Click, the sound of the trigger being pulled back was clearly audible. "Do as I say or you die", the gunman warned as he got tired of being ignored. Xander relaxed somewhat and stopped the car. He still looked like he was holding himself ready. Brandt decided that years of minding duties had not dulled Xanders senses. He was going to wait for the right opportunity then act.

Brandt moved his eyes from Xander's predicament to his own, the gun in his face. His agent side was raging right now. He could perform the same movement he had on Ethan, pulling the gun from the mans grasp. The problem with that was that Ethan had not actually been planning to hurt him, just test his theory that he was an agent. This man man definitely had 'obey or die' clearly in his eyes. He also had to think of Markus who was totally inexperienced at this sort of thing. Suddenly he understood how Ethan and the othes felt when they were landed with him.

Looking over at Markus ,he expected terror ,what he saw instead really puzzled him, Markus had a smile on his face.

"Come on guys do I what I told you", he whispered to his gunman. The one holding the gun on him reacted to this cryptic remark by smacking him across the face hard. That led to Xnder trying to make a play for the gun pointing at his face, as he made a grab the gunman hit him hard with his fist. The crack was audible and Brandt saw blood trickling from Xanders chin. All this time he had done nothing but sit rigidly and look scared. His senses told him now was not a good time to act. "For goodness sake stop that, its going too far", Markus rubbed his face and dared a glare at the gunmen. That was not a normal response to being held captive and Brandt protested, "alright Markus what is this about". Seconds later he regretted opening his mouth as he got slapped across the face.

"Shut up all of you", the gun man holding Markus captive instructed. "But you were only supposed to…,"smack, another slap sounded across Markus's face. "The gun was shoved right into his face and the gun man spat at him," I said shut up".

Markus's complexion changed as colour drained out of his face leaving him a pasty white. "You, down on the floor" the gunman pointing the weapon at him instructed. Brandt obeyed knowing know was not a good moment to act . Markus was pushed flat against the back seat and a gun held at his back. In the front Xander had been shoved away from the drivers seat and against the otherside of the car.

The gun man in the front then shouted over to his colleagues in another language. Brandt kept his face impassive ,obviously the car jackers did not want them to understand what was going on. Unfortunately Brandt understood every word. "We only need the programmer, the other two are excess baggage", the gun man stated. 'The driver is a potential threat as he is an agent. That other one is an analyst"

Still not reacting Brandt reflected that their information was good. From the few comments Markus had made Brandt ascertained this had something to do with him.

Smack , Brandt lifted his head to see the gun man in front of Xander hit out fast with his right hand. Xander tried to counter but was simply not fast enough. The blow connected with his jaw and he was unconscious within seconds . The gun man in the front pushed him aside and got into the drivers seat. "Our helpers have blocked acess to this alley. But killing the others here will attract attention too quickly. I will drive somewhere a little more quiet then we will deal with our excess baggage".

The car began to move again.

Brandt looked up again into Markus's eyes. His friends head was hanging slightly off the seat now. 'It was supposed to be a joke", he whispered. Brandt frowned that sounded too incredible, why would Markus think a car jacking was funny. "It was for Xander to make him feel inportant again.I hired these guys to pretend to subdue us and the weapons were supposed to be fake", Markus whispered. "But even I know they are not. Something went wrong, Brandt this is real. Its not supposed to be real", tears were rolling from Markus's eyes.

What are we going to do", it came out broken and desparate. Brandt meet his gaze and told him, "believe in rumors Markus". That earned him a slap . It was worth it though because the look in Markus eye changed as he understood the cryptic message.

Now he knew that it was true that Brandt was an agent, the gun man however did not. He held the element of surprise but was up against three trained professionals. When he acted his timing would have to be right, or he would be dead. Brandt the analyst faded away once more as his agents side prepared to attack.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- a trail of ...nothing

time four hours since the discovery of Markus Dreys body

Location- Ethan Hunts apartment.

Luckily Ethan had known the locations of Benji and Jane and had taken time to contact them both.

Benji was the nearest at just over 1 away. Even though that hour was valuable time Ethan was going to wait for him. With IMF systems down the only way to gain information about Markus Drey's murder was to hack into the computer of the local police department.

Ethan knew that once Benji arrived he would have to start answering questions about their fellow team mates. He then would have to tell them about Brandt. But what to tell, in his heart he'd like to be optimistic and say that because there was no body then he could be alive. However his logical reason was saying Brandt would have made contact with someone if he had survived. The secretary had tried to use traffic cameras to locate the IMF car but found it impossible to pick out the black non discript car out of several thousand that looked the same. They had no idea which way the kidnapped trio would have been taken.

Ethan thought about Brandt being trapped in a car and having to fight for his life. He hoped he had managed to cause his assailants serious injuries before they took him out. Pulling his thoughts away from thinking about how Brandt might have died he concentrated on getting equipment ready for a search of Markus's apartment. He could not use any technology that had been connected to IMFs central mainframe because of the virus. That unfortunately meant he would not be able to make a fake indentification of a detective to enable him to enter the apartment. Initally he had thought that he could still use a mask and go with the old lost ID trick. It would have been easy enough to find out the identities of the detectives once their system was hacked. Unfortuntely when he had tested the mask machine he found all it could be programmed for was a pink rabbit face. All the machines had been updating their software on the IMF system when the virus occurred and had been infected.

Putting aside that problem had been easy, he 'd done without IMF's resources once before, he could do it again. This time he'd simply exercise his ability at breaking and entering.

When a knock sounded on his door awhile later and Benji entered his apartment he was ready to begin.

Benji had brought his own laptop which had not been connected to the IMF system and was clear of infection.

Ethan watched as he settled into a chair with a mug of coffee in one hand and his lap top ready in the other. "I've already had a look at this dancing rabbit program, nasty little thing that. While I watched the rabbit numbers increased from 5 to 10, so they seem to be breeding. Not sure what the point is in that but IMF could be in for some surprises."It is amazing to me that someone seems to just have initiated this attack without any warning. Though I suppose all good attacks are conducted that way. Its going to be hard to counter things with just the two of us. Have you contacted the others", Benji said it all without even taking a breath. "Jane is on her way", he held off the news for awhile longer. "Ah that's good and our analyst ,is he coming", Benji had not taken long to get around to the question. When silence greeted him Benji Dunn found himself taking a long look at Ethans face. His hands immediately went sweaty, "where is he", the tone was hushed and quavered a little. "He was in the same car as Markus Drey when they were carjacked , the secretary believes that he is dead", there he'd said it.

Benji looked down for a second and tried to compose himself. Death was always the toughest thing for him to deal with as an agent. Even though Wistrom had been an enemy agent killing him had played over in his mind for a while until it had finally faded. When it was someone you knew it was even harder. But dwelling on it would achieve nothing. All they could do for Brandt now was find the person responsible.

He tapped some buttons with a little more force than necessary as his anger faded and resolve took its place . It took him mere minutes to hack into the local police departments central computer.

"Alright they have assigned homicide detectives Blake and Lyall to Drey's case. These two have carried out a search of the apartment and found nothing of note". Benji skimmed the list of the items found in the department. "Ethan one thing stands out straight away, Drey was a programmer yet no laptop was found in his apartment. I call that rather significant".

Ethan agreed with that assessment. The lack of a laptop would not bother the local authorities as they only knew that Markus worked as a consultant for Consolidated insurance, his cover identity. "Either our enemy has undertaken a search without leaving any sign of their presence or Drey has hidden his laptop somewhere unusual for an unknown reason. I am hoping on the second scenario".We will need to get access to his apartment", he added.

Looking over at the gear spread all over Ethans bed Benji could guess how that access would be gained.

"The likelihood is that two sets of people could be conducting surveillance on that apartment. One would be our detectives the other is whoever is responsible for unleashing the virus. They seem to want to expose IMFs existence to the world", Ethan remarked

Benji knew that although IMF and the local authorities were on the same side, IMF had enemies the average detective would not know how to deal with. Seeking the help from the authorities would only put themselves and the agency at risk.

"We wait for nightfall then… ",Benji began to propose a plan. "No Benji that is going to lose us more time, we need to get into that apartment right away", Ethan countered.

"Okay break in right under the nose of the whole city, sounds good to me", Benji muttered. Ethan just grinned at him making his heartbeat speed up as the excitement of being on mission caught up with him. They left minutes later and drove the ten minutes to Dreys apartment building. This was a busy part of the city and there were hundreds of people on the streets. The apartment building was sandwiched between two others. All any one living inside would get was a view of someone elses window. It was an unappealing life to Benji who had grown up sorrounded by lush British countryside. He could understand though why living close to work was preferable than struggling through hours of traffic.

Scanning the crowds strolling down the street it only took Ethan a couple of minutes to pick out the plan clothes detective that was lazily watching everyone that entered the apartment buildings only door. There was no sign of his partner which made Ethan a little more wary. Walking past the entrance Ethan acted ilke he had no interest in the building. He kept walking causually joining the mass and making his way around the block to the rear of the building. Looking upward he could see the old style metal fire escape that snaked its way down. It was the perfect way into the building. However the mass of people walking down the street meant he could not access the fire escape unnoticed. It was at this time that he caught sight of the other detective, quietly sitting on a bench reading the paper. "Benji I am going to need a large distraction ", he told his team mate.

"Right", Benji answered his brain skimming over ways to gain the attention of a large amount of people without getting noticed himself. An idea began to take hold. It was a hot summers day and people were often easily aggravated in this type of weather.

A man with a briefcase was right in front of him , he snaked out his foot and hooked it around the mans ankle slightly so the man tripped. He teetered for a second then saved himself by grabbing hold of the man in front of him . Benji could clearly see his fingers digging hard into the mans arm. That man swung around angrily,"hey watch it ", he grumped waving his finger at the man with the brief cases face.

He sounded peeved already, perfect. Benji descretely snaked his foot out again making the guy with the brief case collide once more with the other man. "

"You like pushing me, well you won't like this", the man finally snapped and hit the guy with the brief case. Others around them now were also getting jostled as the two traded shoves and blows in the busy street. Benji could feel the tension rising and quickly crossed the street.

Seconds later a street brawl was in full swing as several men hit and slapped each other. The detectives eyes shifted from the building to the brawl. Ethan took the opportunity to quickly pull down the ladder of the fire escape and jump up. He had replaced the ladder and quickly continued upward out of the detective view. Breaking into the window of Markus's apartment was a simple matter that took him a few minutes and left no marks.

Once inside Ethan looked around for unlikely hiding places for a laptop. He started in the rooms that would receive lower priority in search for information relating to the murder, the bathroom and toilet.

There was not much in either of those rooms. Ethan noted that the medicine cabinet held just a tooth brush and one bottle of stomach medicine. He was about to move onto the kitchen when it struck him that the cabinet looked a little bigger on the outside than it did on the inside. Tapping the back of the cabinet he touched a slight indentation. Pushing one finger hard into the indentation he felt something move and the back panel of the cabinet slid to one side. Nestled in the crevice beyond was a silver laptop. Ethan removed it and slid the panel back again.

Sliding the laptop into the lining of his coat Ethan took another 10 minutes to search the apartment.

He found no other hidden items. Getting out of the apartment was a lot easier that getting in as he simply walked out the front door. The detective was still focusing on those going in , assuming nobody could get past him without him knowing. It was sloppy thinking but Ethan was hardly going to chastize the man. Instead he made his way back to the car.

Minutes later he and Benji were back in his apartment. They were greeted by the smell of coffee wafting through the air. Ethan smiled knowing instinctively who would have made the brew. "Hey guys", Jane smiled a warm greeting as she carried a tray holding four coffees into the living room. Ethan could not take his eyes off the fourth cup knowing that Jane had expected to find Brandt with them.

Sure enough after a few seconds of looking at them she asked, "well where is he then".

"Dead", Benji hadn't meant to say it quite like that but it had just slipped out. The tray teetered for a few seconds and Benji rushed to help Jane while kicking himself mentally for his insensitivity.

Ethan explained things again while a rather ashamed Benji settled down to access Dreys laptop.

He worked quietly keeping his eyes away from Janes face as she wrestled with her feelings over Brandt's loss. She had been with Hanaways parents who were still coming to terms with their sons death.

Hearing about someone elses death would be another blow. He heard her sigh softly seconds later." I suppose all we can do is catch the bastards responsible", she muttered.

"Yeah I am working on that", Benji agreed. He found his mouth dropping open seconds later and a strangled breath squeeking out as he found what was on Markus's laptop. "This guy was totally weird", he exclaimed. Ethan and Jane snuggled closer looking at the program running on the screen. There were a horde of lime green skeleton body's each with the head of an IMF agent, they were attacking a group of rainbow coloured spiders and singing hi ho, hi ho, its off to work we go".

As he opened other programmes he found them to be equally as strange. "Good grief I think perhaps this guy had a problem", Benji muttered. "Yes and if IMF saw half of this stuff they might agree with you", Ethan stated. "So now we know why he hid the laptop", Jane decided, "but is there anything good in there". Benji had already discover a rather familiar program, "here's one with pink rabbits that are deciding to take over the world", he remarked.

"So perhaps he was forced to use this idea to create a virus", Ethan remarked. "Yes and its not the world but IMF who gets taken over by pink rabbits. We'd become a laughing stock to our enemies", Jane added.

"Well there is nothing invasive about any of these programs", Benji told them. "Nor is their any information about a virus". Ethan was leaning forward and noted the title of one of the folders on Dreys laptop, 'party plan', "open that one Benji", he requested.

That folder opened to reveal Dreys plan to celebrate the birthday of Harrison Xander. "See I told you he was weird", Benji affirmed as the plans for a fake car jack were revealed. Three tough bouncers were hired from a local nightclub to take on the roles of car jackers. One would slide a dumpster into the path of the car then help his friends hold the car. The plan was that Xander would use his skills and fight off the attackers there by showing IMF that he had not lost his touch. Drey had written of hoping Xander might be reinstated to full active dut".

"Gosh I suppose it was kind of a nice thing to do but boy was it stupid", Jane exclaimed. "What if Xander had decided to kill the attackers instead of fighting them off".

"My question was who did he tell about this, because somehow it turned from fake into real", Ethan remarked.

"We could start with the bodyguards perhaps they could tell us more", Benji suggested. Ethan was already on the phone to the nightclub listed in Markus plan.

Seconds later he put the phone down with a grave expression, "none of those guys showed up to work last night", he stated. "I think our enemy has made sure they did not live to tell tales".

It made Benji swallow, whoever was behind this was nasty as well as clever, they had yet to leave a hint to their identity.

"So what next ", he asked Ethan. Ethan was about to reply when Benjis computer beeped loudly. "I placed a command in the local PDs computer to notify us about anything that might be related to Dreys murder", he explained.

He touched anther button and some information scrolled across the screen. His fingers immediately went numb and he felt his face go pale, "they have just found another body dumped in a mail sack in the rear of the building. Because of the type of injuries sustained they are linking this body to that of Drey's".

"Is there a photo", Ethan had to strain to calmly get that one out. Images of a mutilated Brandt were circling. He forced them away. "They have not had time to do that yet", Benji answered. "How about a physical description", Jane sounded like she was desparate to believe.

Benji kept typing, "okay they are doing that now, male, late fifties, around 185 cm in height", he breathed out in relief.

"It's probably Xander", Ethan stated. "Now the authorities will step up their investigation and it will lead to the doorsteps of Consolidated Insurance"

"They have a solid cover in place Ethan ,the authorities will find no trace of IMF", Benji reasurred.

"I know the cover is solid Benji but with Xander working there as well our detectives will be wondering why murders are happening to employees of a little insurance agency".

It makes us vulnerable again", Ethan concluded.

"So what do we do'", Benji asked the question again.

"That's simple get a line on whoever is doing this", Jane replied firmly. "So far there is no trail Jane", Benji remarked. "We had hoped Markus laptop would reveal something but all we know is that he liked making up weird programs."

"This is a very clever enemy, which is always the worst kind".

"IMF has a whole list of enemies perhaps we could start shaking trees and see what falls out", Jane suggested.

"Whoever is doing this is trying to spit our attention by getting us involved in tasks like that. All we are doing is using time", Ethan warned.

Benji used Ethan's computer to access IMF and found the number of rabbits had now trebled .

"What is the end result of this program Benji", Ethan asked, "how do we know we are not up against a dead line."

Benji could not answer that question as he knew nothing about the program. It was something that was beyond even his vast knowledge.

"I don't know what to do", that admission did not come easy for him. He looked over at Ethan, his team leader, an amazing man with many abilities, the one to look to in a crisis. To his shock he found his face looked blank. Was he actually witnessing something he'd never believe would happen, had Ethan Hunt finally run out of ideas.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- body of evidence

Ethan had started to pace the room and was muttering to himself. Benji removed his gaze from his team leader back to his laptop. They could not use IMF systems but that did not mean they could not hack other peoples. This was one mission when his skills with a computer were valued, in fact he was the only one of them who could find any answers. That stopped his negative thoughts about not knowing what to do. It was an empowering thought for Benji who had often been in awe of Ethans agents skills. However this fight did not need someone who could leap off a tall building . So maybe he could take the lead, just a little of course. "Ethan there is a camera located in the alley at the back of the precinct. It should give us a clear view of whoever dropped off that mail sack", Benji suggested.

"Good, good", Ethan finally stopped pacing and came along beside him

They watched as the normal proceedings took place and people came and went. Soon a mail van pulled up, "it is the usual time for delivery so this is not out of the ordinary", Benji remarked. "Of course it would not be, nobody notices the ordinary and expected", Jane replied. Once again getting information was not easy as the enemy was well organized. "Well at least we will get a good glimpse of their faces. Then I can run them through the police computer. It'll be slower than ours but its all we've got at the moment", Benji sighed. They waited as the doors to the mail van opened then….white ghosting filled the screen, "shit", Ethan hit his coffee table harder than necessary. "We forget guys that the enemy can probably access this footage as well. They are making sure we don't find out too much too quickly".

"Why not deny us access to everything", Benji asked. "If their goal is exposing IMF then they have to give us just enough information to keep us in the game. Dammit we still have no idea who is pulling the strings", Ethan kicked a chair. "I hate fighting a battle when I can't see he enemy'.

Benji looked around him as a sudden thought occurred. "We do not know how much information the enemy possesses Ethan. If the virus is yielding up all of IMFs secrets then we could already be compromised. They may know exactly where we are right now. Wouldn't it be wise to move before someone comes to take us out." He was surprised Ethan had not already thought of this point. Their team leader was definitely behind the game at the moment. Benji glimpsed Jane looking out the window at the street, she had obviously been shaken by the comment. "Yes, Ethan I agree, perhaps we should move , and soon".

Ethan showed no sign of reacting to what they had said just lazily sitting on his chair. When both Benji and Jane stared at him he admitted, "I was hoping they would come and take us out because at least then we would have a person to question"." But so far they are just resorting to hiding behind a screen, bloody cowards", he sounded drained as he said that.

Jane realized none of them had eaten or drunk for awhile. The day had was rapidly disappearing and as yet no progress was being made. She was not sure how long any of them could go on like this. "I think some food might make us feel better, I'll order pizza."

She went to the phone and dialed. Benji moved back to his laptop as it beeped loudly. "Information on the second murder is coming through ", he announced. He hoped this time they might get more information. As a photo appeared on the screen he found his stomach churning as nausea overcame him. His thoughts of new information faded away as he stared at the dead person on the screen.

A pale Jane was also staring, "look what they did to him", she stated sadly

The worst was the two gunshot wounds, one in the gut and then one in the temple. She knew this was how certain people like to torture their victims .The first to bring you pain and make you give up information the second to dispose of you permanently. "These could only be professional killers , therefore he did not stand a chance", she muttered angrily.

"Xander had been out of active duty for years and had not had to use combat moves in all that time, he was well out of practice in dealing with high class professionals", Ethan told her. "The method of killing will definitely be labeled professional by the police and that will direct their thoughts toward a covert agency". Since they will conduct a back ground check they will find Xander had alot in common with Drey. I can just see their brains whizzing as they wonder what Consolidated Insurance might be hiding behind its carefully engineered façade. They will be probing even more deeply."

"Yes and we are still very much behind the game", Jane stated. "We need something to keep us ahead both the police and our enemy".

"Well I don't want that to be Brandt's body", Benji stated firmly. Ethan patted his arm, 'none of us want that Benji but the odds of survival are not in Brandts favour."

"He does know how to fight professionals", Jane reflected. 'Yes, but in a car in close quarters with two other potential hostages who can be used against him. Face it Jane he'd have to be more than simply good he'd have to be exceptional. Brandt's been out of active service too long".Ethan dumped the cold icy water of reality all over their hope.

Jnae turned away from Ethan not wanting to listen to more. She knew that in her head that he was right but her heart still had a small sliver of hope.

Benji's laptop buzzed again breaking the emotional moment and centering them all on work again . "The identity of our victim has been confirmed ,it is Harrison Xander. From the coroners report it looks like he died more or less at the same time as Drey. Similar 45 calibre weapons were used in both killings. However the bullets do not link to any weapon that has been used for any crime in the United States", Benji read.

"Dammit that still gives us a whole lot of nothing", Ethan swore. "I am going with Janes suggestion to find a link to the murders before anyone else. One pieces of major evidence is outstanding at this time and that is the car. If we can find that then we can access the hidden camera".

"The police are naturally trying to find a vehicle but we do have the advatage in knowing the make and licence plates. I am going to hack into the systems of every towing agency in this city. If one of them finds that car then we will know", Benji settled down to type.

"That might be a waste of time Benji it is likely our enemy already have the car. You said they are controlling the information we receive, therefore we will find the car at a time and place of their choosing"  
, Jane told him.

Ethan mulled that over, "Jane it is possible something went wrong for our car jackers. If you look at the injuries of both our deceased you can see defensive wounds amongst all the others. They did at least put up some resistance. Perhaps the reason the car has not been found is that our enemy does not know where it is".

Jane scowled at him, "how likely is that Ethan they had the bodies so they must have the car". Face it you are just hoping for some lucky break, well things are never that easy Ethan and you know it. We have to think harder and smarter. "

Benji noticed Ethans expression change to one of disapproval. Jane had been implying that they were not doing enough and just maybe she might be right. It was a guilty thought for Benji.

When Ethan scowls turned to him as well he realized his expression must have somehow given his thoughts away. He'd have to work on that. "You think the same don't you Benji", Ethan accused. "Are we all going to start finger pointing and yelling again just like we did in Dubai". "That would be just a waste of time". He moved over to stand before him and they noticed his eyes held an intensity that they had not seen before. For the first time Benji felt a wild hope surge ,Ethan was onto something and they needed to support him instead of argue.

"If you have a theory lay it out for us", Benji encouraged. "What does the enemy hope to achieve by holding back the discovery of the car. If they have information about IMF and Im betting they do, then they know about the camera in the car. Why not let the authorities find the car and camera ,it'd only draw the net closer to Consolidated Insurance and IMF as well. So perhaps the unexpected has happened and that is the one factor they do not control. They are trying to keep our attention away from that fact by making us focus on the bodies", Ethan wound down his theory and looked at the others.

"Well they have been succeeding in that Ethan", Benji admitted. "Your theory might be right but all we can do is keep monitoring all reports in the hope we get some clue about the cars wearabouts".

Jane reached out and touched Ethans hand lightly, a gesture of warmth and support. He smiled at her.

The tension in the room shifted down a notch , " I guess we are all just hungry and tired",Benji admitted

The door buzzer sounded not long after that, "here comes food", Jane remarked as she glided to the door. Opening it she stared at the man holding the pizzas in his hand. "Good evening agent Carter, pizza delivery", greeted Luther Strickwell. Luther's location had been unknown to Ethan and thus he had made no attempt to contact his friend. But another advantage of staying at his place was that fellow agents would know where to find him. "Ethan IMF has been invaded by pink rabbits so I thought I'd come and see what you were doing about it", Luther stated as he sat himself in a chair. Ethan outlined the case for Luther and told them how they were doing

"So all you can do is wait around for something to happen", Luther did not like that. He was also very much a man of action and found standing still frustrating. He guessed from their expressions the others did as well.

"Not unless you have another suggestion Luther. We'd all like to go out there and physically deal with the enemy especially since they got one of our friends", Ethan remarked. He was quite open to other suggestions and hoped that Luther just might be able to give them some help.

Luther bit his lip slightly holding his gaze on Ethan. It looked as though he most definitely had something on his mind. However it was curious that he seemed to be holding back. "Something is on your mind Luther I can tell. Just spit it out", Ethan suggested.

For a moment Ethan thought Luther was not going to talk, there was an awkwardness about him that was not normal. "It's not suggestion but a comment. From what I have heard you all think deep down that Agent Brandt is dead", he looked seriously at them. He got three rather reluctant nods. "Maybe you should not count him out. I know how well he can handle himself in a fight. He could be another factor the enemy cannot control", Luther remarked seriously.

Back on the same old track, Ethan sighed inwardly, they had to move on from Brandt to…,something Luther has said just struck him. "Hold on Luther how do you know how well he can handle himself in a fight", Ethan asked.

A flush came over Luther's face then as he looked rather bashfully at all of them, "because we had one", he replied. Benji felt his mouth fall open and Jane stood staring. Ethan just spluttered, "you what".

"After I met your team on the pier in Seattle I went back to IMF to check them out", Luther explained. "The people I talked to had good things to say about Dunn and Carter. But I was having trouble finding out anything about Brandt".

FLASHBACK IMF HQ- undisclosed location

" Agent Brandt", Alex Oliver IMF agent repeated, "I've never heard of an agent with that name however there is an analyst with the name Brandt", he added. "An analyst, that can't be right", Luther stated. "Well that's the only Brandt I know of. Go look in the control room and see if it is the same man", Alex suggested.

Luther had strode toward the control room with his thoughts in turmoil. He knew Ethan well enough to know he'd never allow an anlyst to be a regular part of his team. Perhaps the explaination was that there was another Brandt. This faded away when he looked into the control room and saw the same man as he'd met on the pier. He watched him for awhile until he left the room through one of the doors. Then he decided it was time for a little chat with Brandt.

The analyst was coming down the corridor and slowed as he saw him. Luther walked past before turning and asking in a abrasive tone, "tell me analyst Brandt what did you do to convince Ethan to let you on his team, use some indiscretion against him". It was the only shocking reason that had come into Luthers mind and he did not like it one bit. If he was right then he'd deal with Brandt. He expected the analyst to already be getting angry, most people would after an inflammatory comment like his. Brandt had just stared at him calmly his ice blue eyes unreadable. "So you think I'd do that", he asked in a neutral voice. Luther stepped closer eyeballing Brandt up and down slowly glaring at him, he poked one finger into Brandts chest","well I can't see why Ethan would ever allow someone like you on his team unless you had witnessed him breaking the rules and were going to rat on him". I don't like that Ethan is my friend", Luther growled and made sure he looked as intimidating as possible. Right now the average analyst should be quaking in his boots but Brandt did not look afraid. Maybe he was too stupid to be afraid, Luther thought.

"What you are saying is very insulting", Brandt said it like he was discussing something insignificant. "Yeah so", Luther jibbed poking him again harder. Brandt still did not move and the eyes had not changed, stupid indeed. "Okay Ethan made a wrong call. I am sure I can persuade him to change his mind about you", Luther kept up the pressure. For the first time he saw something flicker in the eyes, a thread of doubt. "Maybe you should because I don't really understand why he'd want me either", Brandt admitted. Finally some progress, he was going to get the analyst away from Ethan. Luther pressed his advantage ," so we do agree then, you don't belong on Ethans team. You home is in that control room planning stuff not out there. I knew it was all wrong. Ethan never used to make mistakes like that, he must be getting old", Luther shook his head. To his surprise he saw the eyes change again, doubt flickered away, "so Ethan does not usually make mistakes",Brandt repeated in a voice that returned to being calm "you trust him to do the right thing". Now it was Luthers turn to feel a little flustered, he had always trusted Ethans judgement, 'well yes, but I suppose that…",he never got time to finish his sentence because Brandt moved. He had looked like he was stretching just a little but suddenly his leg was planted in the middle of Luthers chest. Luther found himself flying backward int the wall and hitting it with a force that jarred right through him. He remembered the ice blue eyes changing from mild mannered into the fierceness of a well trained agent. A hand was around his neck then and the fingers squeezed ever so slightly, "I knew when I saw you that you did not just want to chat", Brandt muttered at him. "You can be assured Luther that Ethan did make the right decision and that I won't let him down, ever". He keep eye contact for a second longer then let Luther go. Luther found himself getting up ,rubbing his neck and feeling like a total idiot. If Brandt had managed to fool him by the mild mannered act then he must be a very good agent. "Look I'm sorry, I just had to be sure and now I am", Luther apologized and held his hand out to Brandt.

End flashback

"He attacked you", Ethan was still trying to get his mind around what Luther was telling him. Of course he knew Luther had always been protective. But he had never thought he check out his new team for himself or take measures against Brandt. Ethan was not too sure what his response should be. Luther did not look angry though just admitting, 'I had it coming believe me. "You know how good I am Ethan but he had me pinned against the wall within two seconds". I never even saw it coming. Ethan I think you should consider he fact Brandt is still alive".

"If he is then he is the factor that could break open this case. Brandt knows what happened in that car, he's seen his attackers faces and perhaps he knows who they work for", Benji stated the obvious.

Ethan was still processing all he had been told. He had of course read Brandts file and knew his history. Brandt had been considered a top agent before Croatia. Some of his scores in tests rivaled and in one case outstripped Ethans. He had proven to Ethan in that room with Moreau that he could handle himself.

So he found himself forced to evaluate his previous assessment. But he had to ask one hard question, "Okay if he's alive then where is he".

A loud beep sounded just as he finished the question. Benji hurried to the computer and stared at what was scrolling across the screen. 'I think you just got an answer to your question", he told the others.

"Tell us", all the others voices mingled together. "About 1 hour ago a motorist found a car down the side of a bank underneath some dense bushes. The undergrowth was so thick that it was considered a fluke he found the car. It was only his torch light picking up a flicker of metal that attracted him. Anyway when he looked into the car he saw a man's body inside. When he touched the man he found that he was still alive. Ethan the plate number of the car matches that of our IMF car and the man's description sounds like Brandt", Benji was beaming.

'"If he's been in that car since Drey's body was found then he must be very seriously injured", Jane added that sobering thought.

"I assume rescue squads are on their way" , Ethan asked.

Benji kept reading ,swallowing hard at the new information." The motorist had to flag down someone else to make the call as his cell phone battery was dead. By the time he returned to the crashed vehicle he found the injured man had gone".

That was not the news Ethan had wanted to hear. Jane just made it worse by adding," Ethan remember what you said about the enemy and information. Well we might not be the only ones who know about this. Brandt is out there alive but injured and we have to find him before someone else does."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5- night terrors

The first time he'd awakened the light was funny. It flickered across his face in a weird distorted way that made him feel sick. When he tried to move his head his whole body screamed in pain and white stars swam in front of his eyes. As the stars faded away he moved his head slower until finally he had turned it sideways. Everything looked out of place and confusing or perhaps he had just hit his head.

Carefully reaching one arm over he pushed the release on his seat belt. Seconds later as he was falling he realized everything had looked strange because he was upside down. But it was too late the impact with the roof knocked him unconscious again.

When he woke the second time it was dark around him except for a patch of light that wormed its ay toward him then stopped to run over his body. "Hello are you alive", a mans voice called to him. Brandt tried to open his mouth but found it could not move. He guessed he'd been hit to many times in the face. The glare of the torch made it hard to focus on the man . He did not react when a hand slipped along his neck to feel his pulse. "Just stay still I'll get help",the man told him. It was of course good advice because Brandt knew he was badly injured. But he also knew that not all of the injuries to himself or the car had been had been caused by the crash. Some of the strange ball of light around him earlier had came from the effect of sunlight through bullet holes. Nobody could look at this car and ever think this was a simple accident.

Vague memories of the fight surfaced and with them he felt a stab of fear. He had kicked the last of his assailants out the car door before the crash. How long ago and that been and how far away was that man now he asked himself. Lifting his hand to look down at his watch Brandt muttered a curse, it was broken. So much for diamond resistant glass and being built to withstand anything. He should take it back and say hey a few bullets and kicks and it just falls apart. Pulling his mind away from the irrelevant thought that surfaced Brandt guessed his lack of clarity meant a head injury, just great. Debating whether to stay or move Brandt chose moving, if an enemy found him like this he would be at their mercy. His gun was next to useless as he had spent all of his bullets during the battle.

But how far would he get, it was dark out there and he could easily injure himself further. Reaching into his jacket pocket Brandt came out with the remnants of his IMF phone. Of course his attackers had made sure it would be useless as a means of contacting anyone, breaking its screen and disabling the GPS but it did still light up and it was that function that he needed. Reaching out his hands Brandt tried to pull himself off the floor. The resulting pain nearly made him black out again. In the darkness he could barely see himself but he could feel the blood running down his body from various wounds. He also felt sapped of strength and disorientated. Movement of any kind brought him pain which suggested broken bones and perhaps internal injuries. But he had to move or risk dying. So he reached forward again and painstakingly slowly inched himself forward on his hands and knees. His head throbbed and his body felt like a thousand knives were stabbing him hard. The warm feeling of fresh blood was felt through his suit. He did not stop moving pulling himself out of the shattered remnants of the car window.

Once he was lying on the ground beyond the car. He put pressure on his legs and attempted to stand only to crash back to the ground again amidst more pain. It had hurt more than any other physical pain he had endured, probably an indication that something serious was wrong. Shining his phone over the landscape in front of him he saw dense low bushes perfect for cover but only if he crawled. Deciding that might be the only way he could get around Brandt inched himself through the undergrowth. His progress was slow as each movement brought jarring pain. He just bit down on his lip and blanked his mind away from his body's sensations .Slowly he moved away from the traffic noise further into the denseness of the undergrowth. His thought was to hide until someone on the right side came to find him. In his mind there was no doubt that Ethan Hunt and the team would be looking for him. All he had to do was hold out long enough . When a beam of light swept over the ground behind him he believed that maybe that help had come already. He made ready to move his aching jaw and call out.

"There's blood over here I think he crawled off that way", in the darkness the voice sounded loud. "Are you sure you saw a man", a second voice asked. Brandt felt cold chill him as he recognized the voice of the man he'd kicked out of the car. Obviously the impact with the road had not caused him to be seriously injured and now he was looking for him. "Yes I think so", the reply came.

"Well my friend and I will start searching this way. Why don't you go back to the wreck and wait for further help. Anyone else can start searching in other directions", the gunman suggested. "Alright", the man sounded only too keen to go.

Brandt understood why, the coldness of the evening had set in and with it the first pattering of the promised rain. He was greatful the man had left for another reason, the gunman might decide to hurt him or even kill him .

"He's got to be out here somewhere. You are an idiot for letting him escape", the voice he did not recognize growled. "We have to kill him before he can tell anyone what he knows". "How was I to know he'd put up such a good fight", the gunman protested. Let's just find him and dispose of him". If we smack him about a bit more it'll finish him off and it'll look like he succumbed to his injuries".

"Good idea, now shut up and search, he might be listening", the unfamiliar man stated. "Good, then he knows he aint got a chance" , the gunman raised his voice louder.

It carried over to Brandt who lay still in the undergrowth trying to contol his breathing. Over by the crash site he saw the whirling lights that could only belong to police cars and partially relaxed, it was now a race. Even though he did not want to be in the hands of the local authorities and subjected to their questions it was preferable to being dead.

The torch light flittered over the bushes beside him then over him. For the first time he was thankful for the boring dark grey suit he wore as it would render him almost invisible amongst the foliage of the bushes . He still closed his eyes and prayed though knowing that if he was discovered it would mean the end of his life. "Dammit", he heard the gunman swear under his breath in frustration. "Get a stick and start poking" , he heard the other man suggest.

The footsteps moved off and Brandt took the opportunity to crawl his way further along through the bushes. He was thankful that the stiff breeze muffled the sounds of his movement. More darkness was ahead of him and he had no idea what the terrain might be like. The gunmen had placed themselves so he could not go back toward the crash site pushing him forward into nothingness. Maybe he had made the wrong call in moving, it may mean his death. Feeling blood run down his body Brandt decided it might not necessarily be the assassins that would put an end to his life. Now he knew what it felt like to fear dying along in an unknown place, it was that moment when total darkness descended upon you and all hope had gone . Stop it, he told himself, think like that and you are most surely dead.

The light was flittering closer again and with it the sound of bushes been hit firmly with what sounded like a very large stick. Far way he could see other torchlight as the police searchers mapped out the ground. The hope of light, he willed it to come his way.

Detective Nigel Blake looked inside the broken window of the car and shone his torch on its interior. He could see several bullet holes in the doors and above the windows. The different sizes of the holes suggested different callibre weapons, this was definitely the car they had been looking for.

"The fresh blood suggested there was definitely someone trapped in here. It looks like hes got free and decided to crawl off . That could be because he is disorientated and unaware of what he is doing or he was responsible for some of this and does not want to get caught", Detective Jason Lyall told his partner. "Well ask him when we find him", Nigel suggested sliding his hands down toward his weapon. "I'd advise caution as the evidence suggests we are dealing with professional killers". Jason was shining his torch over the ground, "whoever was in that car is losing blood, he's not likely to be much of a threat". Nigel looked back at the bullet holes, "if he survived that, then I think you are wrong Jason, he is probably very dangerous indeed". Wounded cornered animals always are unpredictable." Don't let his condition fool you, shoot him if you feel threatened."

"It looks like we are attracting bystanders", Jason nodded back to the roadside where a car was stopping. "Geez, I rather be home watching a movie than stopping to stare. I suppose the uniformed division can cope with that", Nigel remarked ," Yes and our priority remains our wounded party, until more assistance finally arrives we are conducting this search short handed". We better get started there's alot of ground to cover" , Jason looked over the large expanse in front of them. Nigel noticed torchlight sweeping over the shrubbery in the distance. " It looks like we already have some searches, must have been those motorists that came to assist. We'll leave them there and cover other ground. I dearsay they'll call out if they find someone". He cast one look over at the searchers then back to the bullet hole ridden car, something bothered him but he was not sure what it was. Deciding the darkness was making him paranoid he directed his attention back toward his own search.

Back at the crash site Ethan pulled his car to a standstill at the side of the road. A uniformed officer approached, "sir, there is nothing to see here , on your way please", he demanded. Ethan made no move to start the car just waiting for Luther to speak. "Officer it looks like you might need some help, I am with search and rescue", Luther handed over a card. This was a simple strategy, why lie when the truth will work. He did spent time with search and rescue on his off time as he was an excellent tracker. The uniformed man debated. He knew that more help was needed to find the injured man and that official aide was still hours awy. So perhaps these people could be put to use. "Alright your help would be appreciated, we have a walking wounded out there somewhere", he gestured toward the darkness. We have searchers, there and there", he pointed at torchlight, "perhaps your team can cover the other area" . He moved back to traffic assistance after that leaving them to get ready.

Exiting the car Ethan suggested ,"Benji crawl into the wreck and get us that camera footage and anything else of note, the rest of us will help the search". He turned on his high powered torch and then swung its beam into the darkness. "He could be anywhere", Benji sighed as he squinted into the darkness.

Ethan started flashing the torch on and off, "I am hoping he might come to us", he declared. Benji could make no sense of the flashes, "is that morse code, a bit outdated isn't it", he suggested. "Brandt knows morse code", Ethan replied," I am sending him three simple letters". "Oh S.O. S. I suppose", Benji decided. "No, IMF", Ethan told him.

"Luther, Jane lets split up to cover more ground, we'll contact each other by walkie talkie for updates every 10 minutes,"Ethan instructed. Luther looked over at the other torches, "how do we know all of them are friendlies", he asked. The answer for that one was they did not, Ethan had to make sure, "I will swing over that way and check those other searchers out. I dearsay I will know very quickly if they are undesirables". You two start searching this ground". Luther and Jane knew Ethan had the hardest task but they also knew he could handle himself. Without worrying they moved off into the undergrowth.

Benji walked slowy over toward the crash car while keeping a wary eye on the uniformed officers. They seemed busy moving on traffic and he hoped that would keep their attention off him.

He found the upside down car outlined by the headlights of a police cruiser. Moving down the bank into the shrubbery Benji went to the darker side of the car to avoid detection . Bending down onto his hands and knees he crawled inside. Shining his torch onto the interior Benji could see what a mess it was. There was blood splattered about on the seats and wall and at least 1 dozen bullet holes. It was the scene of a battlefield and Beji found himself feeling shaken. Pulling his mind away from thinking about what the battle would have been like he crawled to the rear of the car and looked for the panel where the hidden camera was stored. All he found was a large bullet hole, either by accident or design the camera had been taken out.

Thinking he still might be able to retrieve some data Benji pulled out the damaged body of the camera and placed it in his pocket. Just as he was about to slide back over to the front seat his torch light picked out what looked like a long string lying admist glass on the roof. Shining the light more directly he carefully put his hand down toward the string. Carefully avoiding the shards of broken glass he pulled the string to reveal a small USB stick. Placing it in his pocket Benji slid himself out of the car.

Returning to the roadside Benji looked out into the dark expanse where several rays of torchlight sweapt the ground looking for their colleague. He had touched the blood in the car and found it to still be fresh, meaning its was Brandts. From the volume he knew Brandt would not have alot of time. He hoped Ethan could find him in time.

Brandt bit his lip hard causing blood to fall from his lip. He ignored it, what was one more wound. Biting harder he avoided making a sound as a stick thrashed through the bushes and hit the ground inches in front of him.

He was lucky in that this searcher was not being particularly quiet and he could hear the noise made by the stick and anticipate where it would strike. His reflexes though were sluggish from the loss of blood and when the stick came down again he could not move and it struck him. The pain that shot through his stomach almost made him cry out, it was only his sense of self preservation keeping his mouth shut. Tears ran down his eyes leaking onto the ground. Big boys don't cry, a voice seemed to whisper in his ear.

The gunman was right above him and he could hear his breath as it whoosed from his lips. "I see blood, he's got to be round here somewhere", the unfamiliar voice shouted.

Brandt closed his eyes and almost felt himself fade out, he did not have long before the combination of blood loss and shock would render him unconscious again. Already his skin felt cold and clammy while his heart raced to pump what little blood he had left. Fear that he was going to die out here returned to him. He lifted his head toward the other light, it seemed so far away ,too far away. His head injury must must also be getting worse because the torchlight flickered strangely almost like in a pattern. I. M. F.

It was like having a cold bucket of water straight in the face, his lethargy faded and his last reserves of adrenalin kicked in, Ethan was out there.

But there were still two gunman between him and safety and he could barely move what he needed was some sort of plan. But this was not like before, now they knew what he was capable of and would shoot him rather than letting him escape again. That beam of light was his salvation but it was far away, maybe too far. Brandt let his head drop back to the ground.

"Where are you going", Jason was stunned when his partner suddenly changed direction and began to run back they way they had came. "I just thought of a third reason why that injured man might leave the car", Nigel shouted. "A third reason", Jason repeated still watching the strange behavior of his partner. " He counted off the reasons himself ,"number one, doesn't know what he's doing, number two is a cold blooded killer and is getting away , number three" , for a few seconds nothing came to mind. Then it hit him hard, "is being chased himself, oh hell we should have checked those other searchers out".

His partners torchlight was disappearing, "you would run straight toward trouble", Jason muttered as he changed direction and followed.

Now both of the men were directly above him outlined against the moonlight. He could just make out the glint of metal in their hands, weapons. All he had was some bushes and a bit of dirt.

"Hey I think we are in trouble that torchlight is coming this way", the unfamiliar man stated as he moved away slightly from his hiding place. "Then we will have to leave the subtle approach and go with just shooting that agent", the gunman growled. "He's too badly injured to have gone far, hit the bushes around here hard".

The stick whistled through the air as it crashed toward him to land directly in front of his nose. This was it ,within seconds he would be discovered. His body was too broken to try to move and a strange sense of detachment was coming over him.

As his eyes began to flicker shut he decided that at least he would not feel his death when it came.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6- Running out of time

"Gentlemen stand still, police", the command was firm ,gruff and unfortunately came from the wrong type of help." Brandt willed his eyes open as he saw the torchlight centre on the gunman's heads . Their weapons disappeared fast enough not to be noticed by the local cop. Brandt knew the man had no idea what he was dealing with. The gunmen would not hesitate in taking him out in order to achieve their goal. "Don't pass out now",he ordered his mind firmly. Ethan was still out there but would not risk a confrontation with local authorities to rescue him. Therefore getting away was going to be entirely up to him. That was kind of laughable since he could hardly move."Whats the problem officer", it was the unknown man asking the question in a 'I have nothing to hide type of voice'. Brandt activated his small beam of light so he could keep focused on the two men standing only inches way but facing away from him.

Nigel Blake held his torch steady in one hand and the gun in the other ,he was not taking chances. He was well aware that for the moment he was alone. His partner was still struggling through the undergrowth. "I want to see some I.D please", he demanded of the two men. Looking them over he thought they looked normal, not like gunman at all. The men made no move toward their pockets, "we are just helping search officer, so why is there a problem", came the question.

"Just do it gentlemen I'm not in the mood for delays", Nigel took the don't muck me about attitude that 99 percent of the time worked well. He found it difficult to keep both torchlight and weapon focused on the men. "Of course, sorry officer, show him what he wants", the unknown man requested. "Slowly carefully", requested Nigel. The unknown man shook his head, "geez you help out and this is what you get, I will be making a complaint". That made Nigel doubt his own theory, these actually could just be normal searchers and there could only be two reasons that injured guy crawled away.

"Don't trust them", Brandt thought hard, but he did not speak, as he did not want to aggravate the situation by making the cop have to worry about him as well. He just lay still watching them with the eyes of a trained agent, ready for them to take action. His hands dug into the ground beneath him in search of anything he could use against them if the moment came. He could feel his heartbeat increasing as the organ intensified its efforts to keep beating. It was like driving a car on an empty tank hoping those last reserves would keep you going. His eyes were flittering shut but he screamed at them to open and concentrate on the men. They were going to act he could feel it …

The men moved their hands slowly downward, the cops torchlight followed. But it did not cover all of the mens bodys. One gunman was pivoted slightly away so his right hand was shadowed in darkness. Brandt had not taken his eyes of that blindspot and noticed movement. "Get down", Brandt found himself shouting as he saw the man grab his gun. He brought his hand up at the same time throwing the small rock he'd uncovered hard at the gunmans head. It hit with deadly accuracy knocking the man to the ground.

Nigel dived for the ground at the same time the two men drew weapons faster than he could have believed possible and fired. If he had not moved he would have been shot through the head.

Rolling over on the ground he fired his gun at the man that was still upright. He felt immense satisfaction when he heard the sharp inbreath of pain that told him the man had been hit. His body smacked to the ground in front of him seconds later and lay still. A quick search with the torch light found the man who'd been hit by the rock was unmoving. The battle over Nigel shakily stood shakily to his feet. He felt blood run down his arm from the gash he'd opened when he hit the ground. But that minor injury was preferable to a bullet through the head. He was well aware that the injured man had just saved his life and in doing so he had revealed his own location.

A few metres away Ethan heard the gunfire and sped up his approach. He stopped about 1 metre away when he spied another man running through the undergrowth. The torchlight on his body outlined the gold shield pinned to his shirt, a cop. Slowing his approach he turned off his light and relied on his other senses to navigate through the darkness. It was a skill one learns over the years of being an agent, he'd had a lot of practice at sneaking about. Nobody would notice him unless he wanted them to. Following the cops torchlight he soon caught sight of another man and spied two bodies on the ground. It looked like round one went to the good guys and he was relieved in that sense. But it was also highly possible that they had found Brandt. He'd have to keep looking to confirm this theory.

"Nigel you alright", Jason came running up puffing and took in the scene, one man shot and bleeding ,the other lying motionless on the ground. His partner was standing stunned but unhurt. He hurried over to the gunman. One would not need cuffs as he was dead, the other was merely unconscious and Jason firmly cuffed his hands together.

Finally shaking off nearly being killed Nigel turned to face the dark patch of bush in front of him, "you can come out now", he requested.

Brandt used his last reserves to crawl out onto the open space where the detectives stood. He was safe now though not in the right hands.

"Holy heck, how could you even move", Nigel was shining his torch over the man and taking a good look at his injuries noting he was covered in blood almost from head to toe.

Looking over at the injured man Jason sucked out a breath, "I should go for an ambulance, one gunman is dead the other unconscious so you should be safe. As long as you can trust him", he gestured toward Brandt.

"He saved my life", Nigel replied firmly. That of course should make the injured man a friend but thinking about his own words earlier about how dangerous this man might be made him wary. The fact he was still conscious when most other men would have passed out long ago spoke of some sort of resolve that went beyond what was normal. Yet he was seriously injured and looked like he'd used up the last reserves of his energy. "I'll be fine", Nigel told his partner.

"I'll go then", Jason replied moving off again. Ethan took this all in, one cop alone with Brandt. But it was still not all that easy to get him back. He could not reveal his identity as an agent because that would compromise IMF . The thought of using force was also dismissed it'd only make the authorities believe they were the enemy. If he was going to get Brandt away from the local cops he'd have to do it in a way they'd never expect. Luckily he was the king of sneaky.

Nigel crouched down beside his savior and noticed his intense blue eyes looking back at him. "My name's Detective Nigel Blake", he introduced himself. As expected he did not get an answer. This man was a professional of some sort and gaining his trust was the first step in getting something out of him. In his experience praise always worked well. "Look thanks for shouting, I know you put yourself in danger doing that. At least you could give me your name".

Brandt knew not to tell him a thing, IMF only remained active as long as its agents and its existence was not revealed to the world. Nigel sighed inwardly okay so much for the soft approach, since that did not work then the truth will have to do. "You are going to have to explain what happened in that car whether you want to or not. Failure to answer any questions could mean you find yourself in a jail accused of murder."

Brandt knew that was highly possible since they could undertake a gun shot residue test on his hands and find out he'd fired a weapon. He imagined the local authorities could press him quite hard taking advantage of his injured state. Being in the custody of the police was not what he wanted and perhaps he could convince this detective of that fact. He turned his energy researves toward a last fight, not a physical one though. "Don't take me into custody", he asked.

Now there was an intenseness in the injured man that Nigel would not have thought possible in someone so banged about. But he was not about to give in and let this man think he was in charge. "I suppose this is the moment you tell me it's in the interests of national security. We are not idiots you know, this is some covert operation and you must be CIA or something". Sorry but it doesn't mean you can get away with killing people and not having answers". You will have to tell us what is going on ", Nigel insisted forcefully.

He was good Brandt reflected, a man of passion and morals, he was not going to give him and let him go easily. So he'd have to press him a little, "look all I can say is that the lives of others are at stake and I can't tell you everything because no offense but you guys don't know how to deal with this. You know what I am saying is true, you would be dead if it wasn't for me."

So he was throwing it back in Nigels face. Yet it was absolutely true, he knew. But how could he just let this man go and exactly where did he think he was going to go. That thought made Nigel look out at the darkness. The man would not ask to be let go if he knew he was all alone out here. "Hey is anybody out there, come on out I have your friend", he yelled it into the darkness.

Brandt was impressed, this cop really did have good instincts, "you won't get a reply", he stated firmly.

"Why not we are on the same side", Nigel looked at the man for conformation. "Yes, but we have to stay in the shadows. Once anyone knows we are there it is game over", Brandt insisted. It was getting more painful to talk and his energy was almost gone. The cop was not convinced but maybe one last comment would do it. "What I know is important and the enemy will not stop trying to keep my mouth shut. Can your people protect me ", he asked.

Now Nigel could glimpse fear and it made him pause. This man had survived being in a gunbattle in a car then crawled across a landscape knowing he was being hunted, it meant that he did not scare easily. The memory of almost dying returned to Nigel, could his colleagues protect one professional against goodness knows how many enemies.

He wavered as the answer no circled in his head. Their resources were already stretched and they did not have the man power to put effort into 24 hour protection. Then there was the fact that his supervisors may not believe this man was in trouble just making up stories . Finally he made a decision "your friends are close", he repeated. "Yes, leave me and they will find me", Brandts eyes slipped closed agin. "You don't have long", Nigel knew it wasn't really a comforting thing to say to the injured man but it was true. "I know", Brandt could feel himself slipping away.

Nigel was about to give in and walk away to tell his partner that the man was dead when he heard a sound and saw Jason approaching with two EMTS and the two uniformed officers. It was too late to let the man go now. "Sorry", he told Brandt.

Brandt just closed his eyes surrendering to the inevitable. Within moments he felt himself being lifted, and bit his lip against the pain.

Then came an up and down motion that meant he wasmoving across the uneven ground, he felt sick.

Soon things steadied and he heard doors open.

Nigel made sure to put himself in the back of the ambulance with the man. 'You can get uniform to help you with that gunman then meet us at the hospital", he told his partner. "Right ,get them to look at your arm ", suggested Jason.

The doors of the ambulance shut again and Nigel found himself sitting up on the other bed while the EMTS secured the injured man. "It looks bad but I think he'll live", he told them. 'So you are a medical expert", one man asked him. 'No I just think he has a strong will ", he replied.

That comment made the man turn toward him, "I'll give you a shot in the arm then we can stitch it up for you. Won't take long at all."

"Sure", Nigel watched as the EMT took a syringe out of one of the cabinets and filled it from a bottle.

He winced a little when it jabbed into his arm. "It'll go numb in a minute", the man told him.

Sure enough Nigel felt a numb sensation creep up his arm. But it did not seem to stop there overtaking his whole body. Things around him suddenly seemed very blurry. "What…", he had no time to say more before he passed out.

"Hit the road Benji", Ethan Hunt requested as he lay the detective down on the bed.

"Right, Benji acknowledged as he settled into the seat of the ambulance. "We are heading toward an IMF medical facility", he asked.

"Remember we are under orders not to contact IMF Benji, it is lockdown and we are on own. All IMF facitlites have closed their doors and disappeared," ,Ethan reminded him.

"Dammit how about heading for a local hospital then, Brandt's going to need urgent treatment", Benji stated.

"Benji I did not rescue him from one set of authorities to place him in the hands of another. Remember our enemy has access to all the systems and will know exactly where he is", Ethan warned. "Yes but awhile ago you were saying how you wanted them to come to you", Benji retorted bravely.

"That was before we found the man who might know all the answers. From now on Brandt is no longer an agent but an asset and as such we have to protect him at all cost", Ethan told him.

It was an impassioned speech but Benji was not ready to back off and that truly surprised him. "Ethan, not getting him help is endangering his life. He can only tell us what is going on if he survives". If we go to a hospital out of district then perhaps we can control what happens to him".

Jane overheard the comments and held her breath. It was certainly interesting to see Benji and Ethan at odds. This was not something she thought would happen. But as Benji gained confidence as an agent he was asking questions and asserting his own opinions. It would have made her proud at any other time but right now Brandt lay bleeding as they argued over him. Luther she noted said nothing, not taking sides. He seemed to be watching how this played out as well, men she wanted to scream. "Come on guys sort it out, we have a bleeding man here", she reminded them.

Ethan looked over at where Luther was tending to Brandt. He did not like being challenged but knew Benji was raising valid points , he had an effective counter ready. "What will we say happened to him Benji, face it his injuries will raise questions. Plus there's the fact that we just stole an ambulance and its patient. All hospitals are going to be on high alert. Sorry it is just too risky. We are going to have to take him somewhere and use the supplies in this ambulance to treat him".

Benji knew he'd lost and made a soft sigh. Luther breathed out too relieved the tension had gone, "alright that's solved but what are we going to do with that cop", he asked.

The detective seemed peacefully asleep on the bed. But Ethan knew the knockout drug would only last a short time. "We will have to take him with us. Once the report on tonight gets broadcast though the police department it is likely the enemy will also know what happened . This detective could find himself in danger from the enemy if they think Brandt told him anything".

"Oh great now we have a cop to worry about", Luther muttered. "Can we please just worry about whats important", Jane begged, drawing their attention back to their injured colleague. She could tell from the machines they'd connected that his vital signs were unstable. Now the battle they had to fight was to save Brandt's life.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7- twisted perception

"What the hell", Jason Lyall swore as he found three men tied up in the bushes on the side of the road.

Quickly getting their story he hurried to get out an alert on the stolen ambulance. The people responsible for this had made a he mistake in taking an easily recognizable vehicle and Jason was going to take advantage of that.

Taking care of the alert he walked back through the darkness to where the two uniformed officers were guarding the man Nigel had taken prisoner. Jason felt a slight sliver of victory over the fact it was them who had captured the man. He would get the answers the department needed and take credit for this case himself. That brought a smile to his face until he thought of his partner in the hands of those spooks. He could sense that was what they were and also knew that the FBI, CIA and whoever else he contacted would deny they ever worked for them. If they hurt even a slight hair on his partners head he was going to ensure they'd paid for it, no matter who they were. He would demand they got sent to a federal prision on the charge of kidnapping and locked up for a long time.

Stomping over to the uniformed officers he noted the prisoner was still on the ground and not moving.

"He's been quiet so far , just opened his eyes looked around then closed them again. Perhaps his injury was more serious than a simple blow to the head", one uniformed officer told him. Jason bent down to look for himself, noting that the man looked very quiet as he lay on the ground. In fact he was so still…."he's not breathing", he found himself shouting. The uniform officers crouched beside him and checked for themselves. "it was just a simple injury, not life threatening",officer Michaels remarked defensively. He did not want to get the blame for the death of the prisioner. Shining his torch on the mans face Jason noted white froth beginning to gather at his lips. A spy movie he had once seen sprung into his mind. 'I think he has ensured we will not be questioning him", Jason stated grimly.

He kicked the ground and swore loudly. One advantage had gone and now he was relying on the ambulance being found for answers. They still had the car but he was not really sure how much that evidence would tell them. "Officers you make sure the car goes to forensics then write up your reports. I am going to join the search for the ambulance". He was going to look in every place he could dream up and find his partner and the others, it was a deep passionate vow.

"If blood loss doesn't kill him then the driving will", Jane warned as she found herself thrown against the stretcher where Brandt lay. Benji was pushing the ambulance to its limits as they drove off road toward an old IMF facility. Ethan had decided this would be the perfect place to take Brandt as the facility had not been used for years and was now off grid hence not listed on the IMF data base.

Benji made no apologies for the driving as that laptop that was balanced on Luther's knee had already told him an alert was out for the ambulance. It was difficult driving in the dark using only parking lights but it did serve to conceal the vehicles location. The dirt road flicked up dust all of the windscreen further reducing visibilty. He strained his eyes as he focused on what was in front of him. Watching the road at least distracted him from thinking about their blood soaked friend lying in the back. He still thought Ethan was wrong in not seeking professional help for Brandt. Of course he would not go against Ethans order. But he knew he would feel differently about being on the team if Brandt died. "Please hang in there my friend", he prayed.

At the back Ethan asked Jane to hold Brandt's arm steady while he searched for a vein. It was essential to replace the lost fluids via IV quickly to stop Brandts vitals signs worsening. He was thankful his training had included an intensive medical course and felt confident in inserting the IV.

"His body is shutting down Ethan", Jane warned as she watched him struggle to raise a vein. Scanning Brandt from head to toe Ethan saw new blood on his already soaked suit. It was curious that the jacket looked pristine with no signs of any holes or rips. Jane must have been thinking the same because she opened his jacket to look underneath. The hissing intake of breath she made clued Ethan into the fact she had not liked what she saw. "His shirt is completely shredded Ethan",I'd say they used knives on him".

"I'll put dressings over the worst of the bleeding for now as I cannot properly treat him while we are moving like this", Ethan stated as the ambulance weaved off to one side then the other. "We are only about ten minutes away from the location Ethan", Benji called over from the front.

"Ten minutes is a lifetime", Jane sighed as she carefully slipped her hand into Brandt's limp one. She was very thankful he could not feel the pain of his injuries. Even the hand she held was ripped open and bleeding. He had obviously put up a good fight against his attackers and she felt a fierce surge of pride at that. Looking up at where the monitors were giving out Brandt vital signs Jane noted his condition had worsened. The hand resting in hers felt cold like life was sliping away. She rubbed the hand lightly hoping that somehow Brandt could feel the gesture and know he was not alone

"Got it",Ethan blew out a sigh of relief as he inserted the IV canula. Jane helped connect a bag of fluids and hang them above Brandts head.

"When we get there, Jane and I will treat Brandt. Luther and Benji you move that cop into one of the rooms and lock him in. Then Benji I want you to find out whats on that USB you recovered",Ethan called out loudly.

"What about getting rid of this ambulance and securing other transportation", Luther suggested.

"That is not our priority at the moment"."I have chosen a place where we can conceal the ambulance until things cool off a little. We cannot afford for any of us to get stopped,questioned or even taken into custody . Our mission is lacking in manpower already", Ethan told them.

"We are there" , Benji stated as the navigation device running on his laptop stated, 'destination achieved'.

All he could see ahead of them was a dense patch of trees meeting together to create a perfect hiding place. It looked like a small forest and he could see not one sign of any building. That made it hard to believe any IMF facility could be here.

Stopping the ambulance inside the canopy of tree branches Benji hurried around the rear of the ambulance to help with transportation of Brandt.

Ethan held the IV while Luther and he lifted the stretcher bed across the ground. Jane was walking ahead of them with the torch scanning the ground ahead. "Where is this place exactly", Benji asked as her torchlight picked up the dense tangle of trees . "The only place it could be Benji, underground", Ethan replied as he stopped and gestured for Benji to put the stretcher down. "This place was built many years ago when these trees were just young. Its use was just being phased out when I joined IMF".He walked over to a tree that towered over the rest of its companions. "It is this one", Ethan announced. Benji could see nothing remarkable about the tree so was surprised when Ethan pressed a knot in the bark and a key board was revealed. "Lets hope the old code it still active", Ethan remarked as he typed in 10 digits.

For a minute nothing happened, then there was a deep groaning sound and a giant square of earth slid aside to reveal a hole in the ground.

"This place has its own generator ", Ethan explained as he used the torch to guide his pathway down the stairs. Once at the bottom he pressed the button on the old cobweb covered generator.

Within minutes light flooded the space beneath. Hurrying back to the stretcher Ethan helped guide it down the steps and into the bunkers main room. They placed the stretcher on a old stone table under the powerful light.

Benji and Luther went back up the stairs to retrieve Nigel Blake from the ambulance.

Jane spred out all the items from the ambulance around them. "Give me the scissors to start off with Jane I am going to just cut off his clothes", Ethan told her. Jane handed over the scissors and watched as Ethan cut through the clothing. She noted he did not stop at Brandts underwear and soon had him completely naked in front of them. If he had been conscious Jane knew he would have been acutely embarrassed. But this was no time for modesty and she was not going to be staring at any parts of his anatomy with anything but concern for his welfare.

She gasped as the cause for the blood that had pooled through his clothing was revealed, a slash that went from the top of his nipple line all the way down his stomach to end just below the hips. "Bastards tried to disembowel him", she stated. Ethan had already gloved up and was examining the wound, "luckily they did not succeed or he'd already be dead", he remarked. "He's going to need suturing though".There were he noted several other slashes but none were as deep or serious as this one. It must have caused Brandt incredible pain to extract himself from the car and move across the ground. He touched Brandts hand softly for a moment in a gesture of deep respect.

Jane forced her eyes away from the slash to run down his body. She stopped at his legs noting they seemed swollen. Using her fingers she gently felt around the swollen area. Though no bones moved under her fingers the swelling and redness suggested an injury. Jane felt anger fill her as she realized what the enemy had been trying to do,"they fractured his legs so he could not get away". "Ethan when we get these guys make sure you save one of them for me". Her eyes glistened with passion.

"Don't worry Jane, they are going to pay for what they did to him", Ethan swore as he threaded a needle .

Jane moved up to Brandts head and flashed a torch into his eyes. When his pupils reacted unevenly she let go of the torch and ran her fingers through Brandts hair feeling his skull. She soon found a lump the size of a golf ball at the back of his head. "Looks like he has a concussion", but the skull is not fractured, she told Ethan." Ethan had nearly finished the suturing and was checking the other bleeding wounds. "I would rate his condition as serious, he remarked, he's going to need constant monitoring".

While Jane and Ethan worked Luther and Benji placed Nigel Blake in a room with a solid iron door and locked him securely inside. They would be able to talk to him via the small slot in the door but he would not be able to touch them or see their faces, it would be strictly hands off. They guessed he was going to be very angry when he woke and would bang and crash for awhile before realizing there was no escape.

Their unwelcome guest secured Benji returned to his laptop. Searching through his pockets he came out with the USB he had found and regarded it like it was a highly poisionous snake. "This could easily be a portable version of the virus. But if I do not network the computers or go online it should be contained", he told Luther. "Go ahead then, take a look", Luther encouraged as he settled beside Benji.

Benji hesitated casting one look over his shoulder at where Ethan and Jane worked on Brandt. "They are doing all they can for him, this work is important too", Luther told Benji with a reassuring shoulder squeeze.

Taking in a deep breath Benji connected the USB and waited for the device to become active. Within moments a folder was visible and as yet nothing sinister had happened. Tapping on the folder Benji began to read what was inside. "This has got to be the work of Markus Drey", he told Luther. "Why do you say that", Luther asked. "Because it is just as screwy as his other things, look", he tapped on a button and a picture of Ethan flashed across the screen. Ethan looked about 10 feet in height and was dressed like superman, the caption, 'he leaps off tall buildings in a single bound', was written underneath.

Luther knew Ethan would not be particularly flattered by the comparison to a superhero."This USB has all sorts of stuff like that, including stupid names he made up for IMF missions", Benji stated as he continued to read.

"Couldn't Drey think up other ways to occupy his time", Luther asked as he took full stock of the amount of entries in the file. "It looks like he had names for every agent and mission in IMF. Look heres one of Brandt". Luther tapped the name and a picture crossed the screen, "Hmmf I doubt Brandt would be impressed about being compared to a lizard", he remarked as he stared at the picture. "Maybe he thought Brandt was slow and boring or something", Benji guessed as he studied the rather ugly lizard that had Brandts name across the middle. "They were supposed to be friends so I don't think that is nice", Benji muttered.

"Well it may be weird but its certainly not helpful",Luther growled. "This is yet another case of getting nowhere ".Benji made no response to that as he was too busy reading through the names of missions. "Maybe we are supposed to think that", Benji stated thoughtfully. "We have to ask ourselves why he would even keep something like this". Luther frowned as he thought about the comment. "You think this is something important", he remarked dubiously. To him it just looked like Drey was not normal.

"Yes I do ", Benji replied. "Look at this title, the attack of the emerald bone squad".

"Yeah so its just some weird name", Luther countered." I know it looks like just a weird name. But we found a program featuring lime green skeletons on Markus's laptop", Benji told him. Luther hurried to retrieve the other laptop and activate the program . "Hi ho, hi ho", the skeletons sang loudly as they marched across the screen.

Luther put his fingers in his ears, "I am sorry Dunn, I don't get it", he shouted.

"Look Luther this program allows the inputing of data, I am going to type emerald bone squad in and see what happens", Benji told him.

Both of them watched as the program froze then slowly faded away. Benji found it had been completely erased from the machine. "I think these titles are the shut down codes for Markus's programs disguised to look like some type of joke. All we have to do is find what he called that Bunny program and we can turn off the virus".

Luther shook Benji's hand, "at least that's some good news " ,he stated.

"Yes but look at how many names there are on his list", Benji warned." Plus we have no idea what will happen if we type in a wrong name".

Luther used Ethan's laptop to enter the IMF site. They immediately saw that there were now thousands of pink rabbits on the screen. As they watched the mass parted and a white rabbbit came hopping through. He was similar to the one in alice in wonderland as he carried a watch. Benji felt a coldness descend upon him as he looked at the watch face. "It is a digital readout that seems to be counting down from 2400", he remarked. "What will happen when it reaches zero", Luther worried. "I don't know but it is evident that we now have a deadline", Benji replied.

"Then we have to take the risk and put in a code", Luther insisted."Yes Benji, I agree", Ethan looked over at them. Turning away from the screen for a moment Benji focused in what was most important to him, "how is Brandt doing", he asked. Ethans gloves were covered in blood and he trembled slightly, "concussion, multiple fractures, serious knife wounds , extensive bruising and tissue damage and those are just the visible injuries. He's been in one hell of a fight and recieved several blows so it is likely he has internal injuries as well".

Benji rubbed his hands upon his face in distress as he listened to the gravity of Brandts injuries. "Will he live Ethan", he asked in a hushed voice. "I think time will tell ", Ethan replied."If he has internal bleeding then he may need surgery. That is out of my experience. I will keep monitoring him and if he starts deteriorating further then you may get your wish and we'll take him to a hospital", he replied. He pulled a sheet up over Brandt covering him securely. Passing one hand through Brandt hair then down his face Ethan whispered, "live Brandt ". He then turned back to Benji and instructed, "we now have to focus on shutting down the virus, enter a code Benji".

Benji scanned the list and chose, "thinking about a girly colour", from the list. He entered it into Ethans laptop. The light on the laptop dimmed then got progressively brighter. Benji and Luther had to look away from the screen. Seconds later the screen shattered and the computer shut down.

Checking on Markus's laptop Benji soon found the IMF site was still invaded by pink rabbits. "Now we know that entering a wrong code destroys the laptop. We still have hundred of potential codes and only two laptops left", he warned.

Ethan swallowed knowing that they did not have endless funds at their disposal and hence could not buy alot more machines. "You will have to look over that list Benji and get it right next time", he insisted."Yes and all in 23hrs and 45 minutes", Luther added the extra pressure.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8- high tension

4am old abandoned IMF bunker undisclosed location- countdown clock reads 2000

"Let me out now", the banging on the iron door made Ethans drooping eyelids flick open rapidly. Feeling guilty for almost falling asleep he hurriedly checked on Brandts vital signs. There had been a slight improvement but as yet there was no sign of him regaining consciousness. As a precaution Ethan had given Brandt a dose of antibiotics to help prevent infection getting into his wounds. The head injury could have something to do with Brandts continued slumber. But he could do little about that. Ethan began to wonder if Brandt would wake up before the countdown reached zero. Luckily shutting down the virus was no longer dependent on the information he may possess. If Brandt did know details of who had masterminded activating the virus them they could deal with them once IMF was back online.

Looking around him Ethan noted that Benji looked tired and strained, a lot of rested on him getting into the mind of Markus Drey and figuring out the shut down code to the pink bunny program. It was difficult in that Markus seemed to have a strange type of mind. Benji had filled him in on what he'd found on the flash drive and he found it interesting . Evidently Markus had a high opinion of him because of the comparison to superman but there was no way Brandt was anything like a lizard. It puzzled him because even though it seemed illogical Markus Drey was a man that had a purpose behind what he did.

A louder crash interrupted Ethans thought and made Benji look up from his laptop."I said bloody let me out", now he detective was getting angrier. Ethan rose and went over to the iron door, " I am sorry detective but I can't let you out", he stated. Nigel felt relieved that finally there was someone to question. He'd awoken alone and in the dark having no idea where he was, it was not comforting at all. On the plus side nobody had tried to do anything to him, but being in what was essentially a cell was not reassuring. "I insist you let me out", he tried a directive. Ethan smiled to himself at the tone of voice and replied calmly, 'no". He heard swearing and banging again. "Just who the hell do you think you are ", Nigel demanded. "A good guy", Ethan replied. Nigel shook his head in disbelief, "really and good guys kidnap people and hold them captive", he challenged. Not at all phased by the tone Ethan answered, "they do when they fear for their safety."Our enemy most likely has access to all your systems and will know everything that happened at the crash site. They could easily think our colleague shared information with you and come looking for answers".

That was kind of sobering but it did not quite placate Nigel, "look at least let me help. I may not be in your league but I'm not entirely stupid", he declared. Ethan had never thought this man was stupid but still could not let him become involved. "Sorry but you just have to stay there", he replied.

"Damn you, so you have it all under control I take it", Nigel growled as he banged loudly again.

Under control, there was a clock counting down, a seriously injured agent and they still had no idea who was behind it all. "Of course", he lied. Ethan had always thought he was good at concealing the truth but that all came crashing down seconds later when he heard the detectives reply. "Oh I really believe that, since we seem to be somewhere under bloody ground". "I take it you guys are all too worried about being found out to accept help. Well have it your way. But I don't want to be stuck down here forever while you run around trying to save the world".

He really was rather a smart guy in addition to being annoying Ethan thought. But he guessed in his position he would feel the same. "We have ensured you are set free either way detective, you have my word", Ethan swore. Nigel knew nothing about the man on the other side of the door but his voice did sound sincere. He began to wonder about what type of case he was involved in and what losing would mean to law enforcement. "Is it bad", he asked tentatively. "Bad enough", Ethan replied.

"So you could end up losing",Nigel ventured. "Yes, I suppose we could. But we will keep on fighting to prevent that happening", Ethan told him. We,Nigel remembered that there had been one other bogus EMT, add that to whoever was driving the ambulance and that meant 4 or more agents. He had incuded the injured man in that list. That made him ask, "how is your injured colleague".

"Still alive", Ethan repled. "That is good", Nigel replied honestly. "Yes it is. Now detective I suggest you just take a seat and sit this thing out. We will provide you with everything you need", Ethan told him.

"Everything ,except freedom you mean", Nigel retorted. He still sounded very sarcastic but Ethan just stated, "yes everything but freedom. Don't bother banging it's not going to get you anywhere".

Nigel knew that was no lie, the iron was so thick that perhaps even a tank could not make a dent in the surface. Maybe at sometime this had been an interrogation room for prisioners. It meant that baring a mistake on his captors part, and this was not that likely, there was no escape. He would have to accept that but he could still make the others regret ever taking him captive. "Oh I quite like banging", he snarled as he hit the door again hard.

Ethan sighed to himself , the noise could quickly get annoying as well as proving distracting for Benji. "You can choose to do that but it is distracting my colleague from putting an end to all this".

That stopped Nigel in mid bang."Oh alright you win", he declared grumpily. Breathing a sigh of relief Ethan looked over toward the rest of his team.

On the far side of the room under a bright lamp Luther was using the magnifying glass he'd found in the ambulance to study the damaged camera. "This is hard going as the bullet damaged the memory chip that allows data retrieval. I have tried to piece it all together but it is still not working. Perhaps I can scavange some parts from this place and use them as replacements", Luther mused. "It might take awhile Ethan ,it is like performing delicate surgery, one false more and your patient dies".

Ethan nodded grimly, things were still not going their way,"alright Luther you give that a try .Even if we could get some data it might be helpful. " Luther returned to his study of the components of the camera .

Moving over to Benji Ethan noted he looked really tired. "I still don't really get Markus Drey, Benji admitted. "His sense of humor went a little beyond what would be considered acceptable". It seems amazing to me that he was friends with anyone especially Brandt. "Brandt does have a sense of humour", Ethan replied, thinking about their code names in India and Brandt's joke about Uranus. "Yeah but not much of one, he's kind of tense most of the time", Benji remarked. Ethan cast a look over at Brandts still form and noted that Jane was tending him. "I wish he was awake to be tense", Ethan replied.

"Yeah", Benji replied softly , "anyway I have eliminated several program titles as totally unlikely candidates for the shut down code. But I still have quite a few to consider. "This is probably just as delicate as Luthers job only the result of failure is much worse".

"Want to run any ideas past us Benji", Ethan asked. Benji looked down the list, "how about the bouncing brigade", he suggested. Ethan thought that over, "rabbits hop not bounce Benji so I think you can put that one in the not that likely category". "Well that's another one down", Benji stated with a sigh of exasperation as he looked over the still large list. "I have total confidence in your abilities Benji " Ethan assured him.

Benji sighed as the praise warmed him. Two team members reports over Ethan looked over to Jane.

"Any changes", he asked hopefully. "No unfortunately not, but he's not getting worse Ethan", Jane replied as she absently stroked one of Brandtshands gently. Brandt would have emotional healing to do as well Ethan reflected. He had left IMF active service because of guilt over not protecting his wife. Imagine how he would feel over not protecting Markus and Xander. Maybe he would have another battle on his hands in convincing Brandt to stay. Pulling his mind away from what might be an impossible mission Ethan asked Jane,"anything else" .Jane had been distracted by Ethans words and found her mind wandering toward Brandt, when Ethan repeated the question she hurriedly reported,"I took a look outside earlier , there is a helicopter flying over probably searching for the ambulance. They don't have much hope of seeing it in the dark but we should be more cautious once it is daylight. I have ensured the GPS locator in the vehicle was disabled and stripped it of all the supplies that might be of use. The EMTs had stashed a bit of food in there so we will not starve but its still not much to keep us all going."

"We don't have that long until the countdown ends ", Ethan reminded her

Jane grimaced at that and then yawned. They were all functioning on limited sleep and were feeling the effects of that upon their bodies. Ethan found himself yawning in response to Jane ,the short almost slumber had done little to rejuvenate him. Luther turned toward them and suggested,"why don't you and Jane get a bit of sleep". There is no point in all of us staying up. Brandt has monitors attached to him that will alert us to any changes. Dunn and I'll will keep working and wake you if anything happens".

It sounded like a good idea to Ethan who wanted to be at his peak in case they had to take some sort of physical action. "We'll use that little room over there to have some sleep". He moved his chair into the room stretched himself out and was asleep within minutes. Jane went over to watch complaining,"how does he do that, the chair is like a rock".

"Years of practice, I dearsay", Benji replied, "here Jane put this blanket behind your back it might help a bit". Benji padded over to another chair and made a soft looking cocoon for Jane to curl up then lifted the chair into the other room and set it down. Jane smiled thankfully at him and kissed him lightly on the cheek, 'you're an angel Benji", she told him.

Luther grinned at the blush that came over Benji's face at the complement.

"She's just a teammate and friend", Benji swore as he watched Janes eyes flicker shut. "Did I say anything Dunn", Luther teased.

Smiling for the first time in awhile Benji returned to the main room and back to the list waiting on his laptop.

Silence fell as Luther and Benji each concentrated on their tasks. Luther found that IMF had stripped most of its old equipment from the bunker. He did manage to find a few pieces of non essential equipment that had had their main circuits removed. Thankfully he wasn't looking for anything major and could still find parts that would be useful.

Using the tweezers and some very strong medical glue he replaced the damaged circuits in the camera.

Taking it over to the laptop he connected it via a USB cord. Holding his breath Luther activated the cameras data base. "If you don't do as I say then you're dead", the voice made both him and Benji jump.

"Sorry the sounds up too loud", Luther hurriedly apologized. "It looks like the damage has meant we get audio only on some files". He opened another file and they heard sounds of gun fire then grunts and swearing as blows were exchanged. Silence then fell again. The computer is searching for more files to open", Luther told him." It may or may not find them, either way we have to wait again."

"Is it Friday the 13th or something", Benji complained ,"because this is really not helping us".

Luther's head dropped slightly, "sorry", he said. Benji squeezed his arm, "you are doing your best Luther".

"Look I know you must be tired as well so why don't you have some rest ". I can easily manage both our jobs. Mine really only requires thinking anyway", Benji told Luther.

Luther nodded reluctantly, "wake me in two hours Benji", he requested. Benji agreed to that and watched as Luther went into the other room and closed the door behind him. Getting up to have a quick peek Benji noted with envy that Luther had fallen to sleep quickly on the hard floor. Jane and Ethan were still soundly asleep and he was not about to wake them yet. Wishing he could get some rest himself he returned to his laptop. The camera was connected to one laptop and the program to find files was still running.

After a time his eyes got sore and fluttered shut, then open. He desparately needed a coffee but there was none available.

He splashed a little water on himself noting that it felt tepid. Being underground under the lights made him hot which did not help in keeping his mind awake and alert. The tepid water only helped revive him for another 30 minutes then his eyes were drifting shut again. His finger was still on the computer mouse and pushed down hard as he nearly succumbed to sleep. "Dammit Dunn", he forced himself awake again and pinched his skin hard. Hurriedly pulling his finger from the mouse he saw he had scrolled down to almost the bottom of the Markus's list of weird mission titles, "leporidae rule the word", the caption proclaimed.

About to move back up the list Benji hestitated, his niece had a rabbit and told him all the facts about her furry companion. He remembered her mentioning leporidae as the 'family' name for rabbits and hares.

It was worth the risk of trying this title. He looked over at the shut door thinking he should really wake the others before trying this. But then he wavered as he imagined their astonishment if they woke up to find it was all over and that he Benji Dunn extraordinaire had saved the day. Yep that would really be the best feeling in the world. But then again maybe he shouldn't because he knew Ethan would want to be there. He got up turned toward the room then turned back, heck he'd done all the hard work so why not take all the credit. Beside the worst that could happen was that he destroyed another laptop.

Wiping the sweat off his fingers Benji announced loudly "its Benji to the rescue" as he opened the IMF site.

At the same time the other laptop announced 'data snippet found' and began to play a video.

Stopping what he was about to do Benji watched as the interior of the car became partly visible. The camera focused on Markus Drey whos face was battered and bleeding , yet his voice held determination as he insisted , "no, no, I will not initiate the virus". The screen went hazy for a moment but sounds of flesh hitting flesh could clearly be heard. When the picture came back Benji saw that Markus's jaw had blood dripping from it and was deformed and swollen. It was clearly broken. Benji watched as a man gripped Markus's jaw and squeezed. He whimpered in pain, "do it now",snarled the gunman. As yet Benji had not glimpsed the mans face only the back of his head. The video footage frosted out again but the audio kept on playing.

"No,No, I won't do it", Markus's voice was barely auidble, distorted by hs broken jaw. He sounded desparate and on the verge of caving in. Benji guessed that must have happened minutes later. But that thought dissolved when a familiar voice stated,"'Oh hell guys, I'll do it", Benji found his mouth hanging open as he saw Brandt come into view, lean over and tap a key on the laptop. Benj noted Brandt had not one mark on his body.

His mind reeling from what he saw, he turned back to his laptop and began to type.

"Stop", the two sounds were unmistakeable , one was the pulling back of the trigger, the other Brandts voice.

Benji forced his head around to look at his colleague. The others had thoughtlessly let their weapons on the table near Brandt and he was now holding a gun firmly in his hand. "If you even try and enter that code Benji I am going to shoot you", Brandt growled. Benji noted he could barely sit up and reached his hand toward the laptop again, 'put your hands up Benji and don't make even one sound. I may be hurt but I can still shoot you", warned Brandt.

Benji knew that Brandt was a marksman who had a higher score in using firearms than Ethan. There was no possible way he would miss. So Benji raised his hands while wondering how everything could have gone so horribly wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9- confession

Benji could feel his hands shaking as he held them up over his head. He had never considered being held at gun point by one of his own team. Then again he had never expected one of the team to be responsible for activating the virus that was crippling IMF. Forcing himself to look Brandt in the eye Benji felt the anger of betrayal rise within him. It was not a pleasant feeling at all.

"Feeling foolish for leaving your weapon all the way over here Benji", Brandt remarked his tone slightly mocking. His eyes were cold and seemed more intensely blue . Benji could feel that his hands wanted to come down and squeeze Brandt hard around the neck. It astonished him as he normally felt reluctant about hurting anyone. He forced calm upon himself, no point letting Brandt think he was rattling him. But maybe it was the redness of his face or the tenseness of his body that made Brandt comment quite calmly,"feeling angry are we Benji,."His resolve to sit there and be held without protest faded. If he was going to be shot then he'd let Brandt know exactly how he felt before he died. Benji had always been brought up with good manners but had no desire to use them now. He felt his voice harden as he told his colleague, "of course I'm angry Brandt because it seems you were responsible for what happened to IMF".

Brandt could feel lethargy and pain over his entire body but tried hard to suppress the urge to just pass out again. He had to make a huge effort to reply calmly to Benji's tone telling him, "Oh it is not just seems Benji I am responsible".

Benji was feeling angrier by the second because there was not one hint of any remorse in Brandt tone. He felt his anger come out in a snarl that distorted his face. Mild mannered Benji slipped away and somebody a whole lot more unpleasant took over. 'Yes and you are obviously not feeling guilty at all", he shouted. Spit actually flew out of his mouth and splattered over Brandt.

The wetness actually made Brandt feel more alive. He made no verbal response for awhile just staring Benji right in the face. The former technician did not look or make any motion that indicated he was intimidated. He could fix that with a simple question asked in a toneless voice, "guilty ,why should I feel guilty Benji". There was a slight change in Benji's eyes now and Brandt could almost feel the tension rise. His body had small tremors of pain passing through it now and it was getting harder to keep the gun steady. But this did not show on his face.

"Bastard",he heard the mutter slip out of Benjis mouth. Finally he had made him angry. " Shame on you thinking bad things about me Benji", Brandt could not feel any emotion in his words. They came souless like said by a robot. Maybe it was the pain that made him answer like that.

Gods Benji could feel himself getting redder as his anger grew. Seconds later it spilled out of his mouth in a fierce shout,"yes I am Brandt, because in addition to harming IMF it looks like you did nothing to prevent Markus Drey getting beaten up". The old you let your friend get hurt line, must surely have some impact upon Brandt Benji thought. He waited for a reaction.

For a minute Brandt fazed out as he remembered the blows to Markus's face. But If Benji had hoped that would unsettle him then he was disappointed because he could feel a smirk crossing his face as he said,"I just stood there and watched Benji, does that upset you".It was the ultimate in cruel remarks and Brandt could see Benjis muscles tense even more.

A powerful desire to wipe the smirk off Brandts face surfaced in Benji at those words. He made ready to drop in hands in preparation to grab something and fling it at Brandt. He moved his hands so slightly feeling sure that Brandt would not notice.

Of course the purpose in provoking Benji was to deal with any unpleasantness while he still could. Thus Brandt had never taken his eyes off him and when he saw the barely there movement calmly announced, "I can see your hands moving Benji". It seems that comment certainly pissed you off. Well now I know it doesn't take much to get a reaction out of you, remember to work on that in the future".

"Bloody don't tell me what to work on", Benji shouted as he passed being angry and felt pure rage fill him. He put his hands back up but could feel them shaking in anger.

Brandt actually felt the hot heat of Benjis words and was buffeted by them. Pain and memory surfaced as he found himself saying in an intensely sad voice, "just trying to make sure you are at your best Benji. You never know whats going to happen".

The change in tone surprised Benji as it sounded out of character with Brandt's actions and words so far. For a second it threw him off balance and made him question if there was more behind this than it seemed. His thoughts skipped past that second later thinking it was just part of Brandt's game, he felt his resolve harden again. Looking over at Brandt he noted sweat beading his brow and the tremors that ran through his body. The hand holding the gun was visibly shaking with the effort of keeping it trained upon him. Pain was catching up with Brandt and all he needed to do was wait a little. This made him visibly relax, the advantage would soon be his .

Seeing victory in Benjis eyes Brandt's other hand came up to support the gun and the shaking stopped. He noted Benji had swiveled slightly and his eyes had never left his own. This was in an effort to put Brandt off shooting him. Brandt could see sorrow in Benjis gaze but remained determined, he would do what he had to, no matter the cost. He could feel the gun shake again at the thought, dammit it was no time for emotion. He kept his eyes on Benji and awaited his next move knowing that there definitely would be one.

A sight movement almost distracted Benjis gaze from Brandts and he noted that the door to the room where the others slept was opening . It made no sound as Ethan held it so it would not bang and wake the others. Don't look or even react he told himself. Ethan took two steps out of the room then stopped still as he saw what was going on. Benji felt more relaxed, Ethan's gun may be beside Brandt but he was still by no means helpless. Brandt had no idea he was there so the advantage rested with Ethan. He willed his eyes to Brandt's face and kept the 'you are about to get it', feeling off his face.

Brandt never noticed any change in Benjis demeanor but the former technician never realized how good he was at using his other senses. There was a definite aroma in the air that had not been there before and he knew without a doubt someone else was present. He kept his own face calm though just announcing, "oh and Benji I know Ethan is standing right behind me". Dammit how did he do that, Benji wanted to swear as the victory he had hoped for was not so close after all .Still adding Ethan into the mix meant that there were a lot more possibilities. It would be interesting to see how Brandt would handle things now.

Brandt kept himself visibly calm though inwardly he was beginning to panic. He did not of course let them see this just stating, "your eyes are not playing tricks on you Ethan I really am holding a gun on Benji. So why don't you come over here where I can see you". Raising his arms slightly Ethan came up beside Brandt, "how'd you know", he asked curiously.

"Oh hearing is not the only sense Ethan, you have a particular smell about you", Brandt told him.

Ethan raised one eyebrow at that. Benji noted he had not reacted in anger at what was happening. He guessed that was a tactic in keeping Brandt off balance and not knowing when an attack might come. It was going to be a lot harder for him to keep the gun on both of them.

"I think I found the switch off code Ethan but Brandt won't let me enter it. It is probably to do with the fact he was responsible for activating it", Benji remarked. He had now let Ethan know exactly what was happening. "You did it", Ethan asked in a tone that sounded more puzzled than angry. "Yes Ethan I did it", Brandt affirmed .Silence fell for a second as Ethan absorbed that information. Benji noted he was careful not to show any sign of his feelings on his face. He guessed though that inwardly he must be seething. Betrayal was all too familiar to Ethan and Benji was in no doubt that when he did act he'd deal with Brandt descisively. At the moment all he was doing was undertaking a staring match with Brandt. Even though he was obviously in pain Brandts glare could have scorched the sun.

"So what happens now Brandt, you going to hold us hostage", Ethan finally asked him calmly. "No, I just don't want Benji to enter that code", Brandt could not help the fact the response came out in gasps. Benji could not help smiling and shifted himself slowly toward Ethan.

When he heard the sound of the gunshot the smirk faded quickly. The bullet whizzed past his ear to shatter the screen of the laptop. 'I saw you smirking Benji, bet you thought you were going to wait till I pass out then imput the data,"Brandt growled at him .Brandt hoped they would think he still sounded fierce and not about to throw up because of the pain that now racked every inch of his body. This was getting a whole lot harder and he'd have to finish it soon.

He really was a total bastard Benji thought. A vision of Ethan beating him back into unconsciousness circled guiltlessly in his mind. Strangely though Ethan did not look even concerned.

Ethan calmly moved over and examined the laptop carefully then remarked in a matter of fact voice,"you know for someone with a top score in marksmanship you really are a bad shot. If you wanted to stop the code being inputted you should have shot Benji and not the computer".

"Ethaaaaan", Benji let out a strangled squeak of protest as he wondered why on earth Ethan had just said that. His tone faded to silence when Ethan calmly stepped in front of him and challenged Brandt with, "if you are going to shoot Will, you had better make it me". It was the first time Benji had ever heard Ethan call Brandt by his first name. Maybe this was in an effort to make Brandt feel closer to Ethan. The gun was still out though only now it was aimed at Ethan's stomach.

Benji sucked in a breath and held it as Ethan boldly inched toward Brandt. He half expected the gun to go off at any minute. But when Brandt put it down, he wondered if he had missed picking up on something that Ethan had seen. Thinking back over Brandt's actions something occurred to him rather sharply, Brandt had the advantage the whole time, yet he'd never taken action. If he truly had wanted him dead he would have acted before now. But that did not mean he could remotely even understand why Brandt had acted in the way he had.

Obviously Ethan thought the same as he stalked toward Brandt and grabbed the gun from his hand. He demanded , "you better have a bloody good explanation for this". Brandt seemed to droop now his body shaking with the effort of sitting half upright. Benji was not too sure that he was willing to accept any explaination, "in my opinion it'd have to be an exceptional explaination", he told Ethan

Now the blue eyes turned away from Ethan and back to him. Brandt felt sadness fill him as he explained "I didn't say it to hurt you Benji, just to make you think. I don't want you to underestimate anyone and end up like this ", he gestured toward himself. Benji scowled at him still angry, his mind could not come up with even one explanation that was going to get Brandt out of this hole. He made sure he told him that quite firmly.

"How about just two words code crimson", Brandt muttered between clenched teeth. He now found talking a lot of effort but knew he had to get his explanation out fast before things escalated out of control. He knew there was no way he could deal with both Benji and Ethan. That was a fact he had known from the moment Ethan had stepped from the door but never let show on his face.

'Code Crimson", Benji wracked his mind for what that meant. "When you appear to be acting contrary to IMFs best interests but are in fact are not", Ethan told him. 'Yes", Brandt answered softly closing his eyes. ""Well that does not fly with me Brandt, I was about to save IMF from the virus", Benji protested. "Actually you were just about to destroy it Benji", Brandt replied. "Because the rabbit program is not a virus, it's a firewall and it's preventing the virus from entering our system".

For a moment that truly scared Benji as he realized how close he'd come to destroying IMF. Then skepticism took over, it was an easy thing for Brandt to say.

"Point one, the secretary told Ethan it was a virus and point two if it's not a virus, then why is there a clock counting down",he asked. Brandt looked puzzled so Ethan used the one remaining laptop to show him the IMF site. "How long has it been doing that", Brandt asked Benji. "Since around the same time that we found…".Benji stopped mind sentence .

"You were about to say since you found me, well isn't that just a coincidence", Brandt remarked to him. "Would you mind telling me where you found that USB". Benji didn't really want to talk to him but made his mouth work, "it was lying in the crashed car". He winced when Brandt replied sarcastically, "wow wasn't that a stroke of luck".

Brandt continued with his explaination his voice now strained and no louder than a whisper. The others had moved closer to listen but did not attempt to touch him. Both of them were still giving him the death glare though." Now to answer your first question, the secretary would have assumed it was a virus. There was only one person that knew its true nature", he pointed at himself.

Before Benji could even begin to get his head around that explanation a violent banging on the iron door shattered his thoughts. "Hey anyone out there", came Nigel Blakes voice. "Yes we are out here", Ethan replied. "Oh good, I know it's night and all that but I just remembered something. Your colleague said he possessed information that the enemy would kill him to find out". Has he managed to tell you what that was".

Ethan looked back at Brandt, "I think he just did", he replied. All Brandt had the energy to do was nod.

"You believe him, Benji was still trying to get all that had happened out of his mind. "Yes I do Benji", Ethan remarked. He walked over to the shattered laptop and pulled the still intact USB from its side . He then plugged it into the one remaining laptop and opened Markus's files of names. "I do because of this", he tapped the picture of Brandt the lizard. "When did he put that on there", Brandt asked weakly.

Benji had not actually checked on when the files were entered and hurriedly did so. "This was the last file entered. On the same day you were all hijacked in the car", he reported.

"Yeah that makes sense", Brandt told him. "Well it bloody doesn't to me", Benji couldn't help swearing what had happened between Brandt and he was still fresh in his mind. He tried to shake it off.

Brandt closed his eyes, "you obviously don't know much about lizards", he muttered.

His head dropped back to the bed as fatique and pain finally caught up with him. "You know that was stupid holding Benji by gun point in your condition", Ethan told him seriously.

"Yeah but I got my point across",Brandt whispered. " No, you still need to", Benji told him bluntly. "Some of those comments you made seriously worried me. The part about you watching as watching as Markus got beaten up was the most disturbing."

"You wouldn't be disturbed if you understood about lizards Benji", Brandt muttered his voice now barely audible. He closed his eyes now and tried to relax his aching body.

Benji finally had enough of cryptic discussion he looked from Ethan to Brandt and back, "alright just tell me", he shouted.

"That was not just a normal lizard Benji, it was chameleon. They are known for camouflaging themselves and hiding in plain sight until the moment comes to strike", Ethan told him.

Darkness still persisted in Benjis mind, he was not getting it yet. "He was not just working as an analyst in that control room but was on a mission, no one was supposed to know about ,right", Ethan asked Brandt. 'Right", Brandt affirmed. Now Benji understood, "let me guess, somebody found out", he hinted.

"That's right", Brandt agreed. "I was betrayed".


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10- eyes on the enemy

Ethan picked up one of Brandts wrists to feel his pulse. It was racing belying the calm manner in which he had held them at gun point. Yet another façade, a chameleon stance, Brandt was complicated. He had gathered that would be the case from the moment he'd read his file. Prior to the incident at Croatia Brandt had done well on missions, yet had never stayed with the same team very long. At most there had been one or two missions then a transfer had been requested. There had been no reports of problems with other team mates or anything to indicate something else had gone wrong. Every request had come from Brandt himself. But there had never been an explanation in his file. The secretary had also avoided the topic jut asking Ethan if he was sure he wanted to take Brandt on. He had agreed to having Brandt guessing it was the only way to find out any answers.

In the short time he'd known Brandt Ethan could tell that he dwelt too much on certain things. He'd mentally go over and over any of his own shortcomings on missions no matter how minor.

That was why he had known Brandt would never betray IMF or his colleagues. He simply did not have the type of personality to deal with betrayal without guilt or remorse. Of course when he'd seen him holding the gun on Benji he had for a moment been sidewiped. But once he'd calmed down from the shock he'd been sure Brandt did have a reason for acting as he had.

Ethan thought his method of dealing with Benji had not been appropriate. Why not simply say, hey Benji things are not how they look rather than twisting things and working Benji into an emotional state. Perhaps issues like this had been the problem with the other teams. They might not make an official complaint about something like that but it would leave a sour feeling. Benji was still regarding Brandt rather like a half tame lion not sure whether to risk a pat or simply run away. He may have to intervene if the two did not work things out.

Right now untaking a physical check of Brandts injuries took priority. The bruising was now becoming more evident over Brandts torso, healthy pink skin was replaced by mottled shades of black. Some of it was very dark and ominous looking. When he touched the area around the bruising Brandts eyes flew open and he flinched away. "Take it easy", Ethan soothed as he lifted his fingers for a moment.

Brandt forced himself to stay still while Ethan gently examined his torso area. It was only when Ethan moved lower that he realized he was completely naked. He grabbed the sheet before he could be fully exposed and held it firmly like a shield.

Ethan shook his head at him, "don't be silly Brandt, we could not treat you without stripping you off".He found resistance in Brandt as he tried to take the sheet from his hands. His response almost went beyond modesty into fear, perhaps it was the memory of what his captors had done to him . This may be something else to deal with later on. For now he softly told Brandt, "hey you are amongst friends".

It was just Ethan Brandts mind told himself firmly, he will not hurt you on purpose not like…..his mind skitterered away from that thought. He forced himself to relinquish the sheet into Ethans hands and relaxed somewhat when Ethan left him partly covred.

Brandt touched the zipper like stitching down his middle and looked down at his swollen legs. Ethan was touching them gently but hot pain still ran through his body. His stomach lurched a little as he remembered when his legs had been fractured. "They laughed when they did that", he told Ethan and Benji in a flat tone. He could feel anger inside him but it was like he had no energy to express anything.

Ethan glanced at Benji as he remembered his thoughts about Brandt emotional state, he'd obviously been through something even more traumatic than Croatia. He'd have to be sent to an IMf psychologist, but before that Ethan could offer some reassurance." You only will feel better once you know who did this has been caught Brandt. I assume you know who they are".

Brandt nodded , "where they are", Ethan added as he watched Brandts face. He noted there was mixed certainty there. "Maybe", Brandt replied. "What about the actual virus, is there a shut down code for that", Benji finally asked Brandt a question. "It's complicated", Brandt told him.

He'd gone from being chatty to giving only short answers Ethan guessed that was a response to pain.

Moving away for minute Ethan filled a syringe with pain relief. He did not give a full dose because he did not want Brandt to be either drowsy or unconscious, concluding this mission was a priority.

Shooting the drug into his IV Ethan watched as the tensed muscles relaxed. "How is he", the door to the other room had opened again and Luther and Jane walked out. Both looked more rested than before though their hair was untidy and clothes all wrinkled from sleep. "He's back with you", Brandt replied to that one.

"Good', Jane came over and placed her hand warmly on Brandts shoulder. Luther meanwhile was scanning the room and noted the shot up laptop. "Well that's a novel way of dealing with a machine that was bothering you Dunn", he observed. Benji did not wait for Ethan to explain telling Luther, "Brandt did that". Luthers face immediately tightened and he took a step toward the bed.

"Stop it", we have already dealt with it", Ethan remarked firmly. Luther froze in place and Jane just stared at Brandt. "To fill you in, the bunny program is not a virus but is in fact a firewall that is preventing the virus entering IMFs systems. Our enemy was hoping that we would not find this fact out and drop the firewall hence unleashing the virus. Brandt was the only one who knew about the firewall and that is why they tried to take him out".

Jane and Luther exchanged glances obviously still coming to terms with what they had heard.

"Brandt has not fully explained things yet", Benji told Luther and Jane in a tone that sounded peeved.

Jane frowned at him, "whats the matter with you", she asked pointedly. Benji opened his mouth but Ethan got an explanation out first, "lets just say Brandt chose an unusual way of explaining things to Benji". "Yeah I guess that does kind of explain it though I still don't understand it", Benji made sure he pitched it high enough for Brandt to hear.

Pain, he was always causing it Brandt reflected to himself , he gone and sabotaged another team. Now he'd have to move on again. With a deep sorrow he told Benji," I am truly sorry Benji, I am just an idiot and you deserve to be treated better" . It came out almost choked and that actually got to Benji.

Before an emotional scene could happen Ethan gripped Brandts head with both hands and stared him in the face. He did not want Brandt thoughts to get too distracted and away from what was important, "Just tell us what we need to know for this mission Brandt."We will deal with other things later , he told him firmly.

The pain relief was coursing through his body and making him feel better but he knew it was only an illusion, he was broken in more ways than one. Concentrating on the story would help.

"This is not the first time IMF has been targeted in a computer based attack", he told them. "it happened before a few years ago ."

"I never heard anything about that", Benji stated in a surprised tone. The others were equally as shocked. "That's because of how you just felt", Brandt told them," shocked, unsettled and afraid"."Agents don't need those type of feelings in the field. So they were never told that for a few minutes IMF systems were compromised".

"How come you know about it then", Jane asked. "You would have been an agent then as well".

"I know because the mission I was about to undertake at the time was compromised by the attack", Brandt replied."All details of the mission were released ,hence the enemy would have known what were were planning. So it had to be cancelled and consequently some very bad people got away".

" Naturally some suspicion fell on the agents on that mission. It was of high importance and other parties might have paid us big money to sabotage the whole thing. Unleashing the virus might have been a safe hands off way for us never to be suspected".

"We went through this exhaustive investigative process that included some pretty hard questions and a complete investigation of our lives." Do you know what its like to have eveything you do under a microscope, nothing was scared ,my life and those of the other agents was laid completely bare. Nothing was ever found to implicate any of us and we were cleared for active duty. It was not a pleasant experience". Brandt could hear the tension in his voice and remembered that he had almost quit IMF at that time. But quitting woud be seen like an confession of guilt and he knew he was not responsible so he had stayed.

"That was not in your file", Ethan remarked. "Because nothing was proven Ethan, agents also can't afford even being a suspect, their career would over. Tell me would you have taken me on if you'd read I'd been suspected of sabotage", Brandt asked him.

The question hung before them and Ethan knew he had to give an honest answer, "no, I suppose not", he admitted.

"So that why nothing was mentioned", Brandt confirmed. "Now back to the attack. "Naturally it freaked the secretary right out and he realized IMF needed more defenses against computer warfare. Defending against something often means we have to understand what we are up against. To do this the secretary authorized the programming division to begin work on creating our own infiltrating virus as well as a means of defense against it."

Ethan had never been sure that he liked the idea of creating a weapon to learn about preventing attacks from that weapon. It was always too easy for someone to unleash that weapon upon you. It looked very much like this had been the case with the attack on IMF.

"So presumably this first attack is linked to the recent one", Luther mused. "Why wait so long to make another move."

"There was never any sign of an outside infiltrator so either they were very good or the attack had to have come from within. Myself and the other agents on the compromised mission were not the only suspects".Whoever it was would have been foolish to launch another attack so soon after the first. They would wait until things settled and suspicion lifted."

Ethan could feel himself getting angry ,"more betrayers within our own ranks. Why don't people show loyalty any more", he demanded. "Money and lots of it", Brandt told him.

"So was that what your mission was about ,trying to find who was responsible ", Benji asked. "It seems strange to me that they chose an agent who had been a suspect themselves".

Jane was pacing up and down as she listened and turned toward them, "he can't have been on this mission for years. You would have been returned to the field after the incident."

"Thats right Jane and I more than proved my loyalty to IMF. Going through that whole suspicion thing left me wanting to find out who was responsible rather badly. So years later when the opportunity arose I was a natural choice". I was a transfer to IMF main headquarters and everyone believed I was just the chief analyst. All records of my field work had been erased. So I could hide amongst the supects and clarify which of them, if any were responsible. Naturally the secretary also wanted to find out if they were working for someone else",Brandt told them.

"So I watched but it appeared nothing was happening. There was no move to contact anyone suspicious or activate another virus. I guess part of me wondered if an another attack would happen, if our suspects were in fact totally innocent."

He was getting closer to the point when he'd have to tell them about what happened in the IMF car. It was something he would rather forget. He looked down at his beaten up body and remembered the blows, he also remembered the mind games.

His silence had gone on too long now and the others were all looking at him and waiting but typically it was Ethan that prompted, "go on".

"It was that day in the car that the betrayal finally happened. It is something I rather forget", Brandt confessed. Jane brought him over a glass of water but noted that his hands shook too much to hold it steady. She put her hands over his and held them firmly while he drank. "What we know is that Markus Drey had planned a mock holdup for Xanders birthday surprise", Ethan prompted. " It obviously turned out a little different than he expected".

"It was different", Brandt remarked sadly as he forced his mind to recall those events.

FLASHBACK- IMF car

He lay on the floor with two heavy soled feet pressing him down and holding him firmly pinned. Above him on the car seat Markus was jammed behind one gunman. Brandt could not see him with his face pressed against the floor but could hear the soft whimpers like some poor whipped puppy dog. There were also sniffing sounds as though Markus was trying to clear something from his nose. In the front of the car Xander lay half off the passenger seat his hand dangling limply. The third gun man drove the car away from the city and to somewhere where the gunman had said all of them except Markus would be disposed of. It was night and the dark tinted window would prevent anyone from seeing what was happening so Brandt knew he could not hope for outside help.

At the moment he was not causing any problems just laying still and quiet. His senses were fully attunded to the sounds around him. He coud hear all three gunman breathing harshly and smell the oil on their guns. They all had 45 calibre weapons, the type that'd cause a lot of physical damage. Any action would have to take out their weapons quickly.

The sounds of traffic were becoming less and less frequent and he could feel his heart rate speeding up in response. "Give it another 20 minutes then pull of the road", the gunman holding his feet on him remarked. He was still not speaking in English.

Brandt braced himself and prepared his mind for the battle that he knew must come. He could perhaps rely on Xanders help if the man regained consciousness. Markus though would be a major liability. On the positive side, the gunman were not looking to kill Markus so would not try and use him as a shield or leverage against him.

That next twenty minutes felt like the longest of Brandts life . Finally the movement of the car changed from smooth to rough bounces,an indication they were off road.

Since he was so low to the ground he could feel evey jolt racing through his body. It was actually almost painful but he guessed the gunman would not care how he felt. His stomach churned and nausea rise up into his mouth as the car swerved. He stopped focusing on the swaying movement. The car stopped 5 minutes later.

All was silent for a moment. Then Brandt heard the distinct sound of a hand hitting flesh. "I have a laptop here so I want you to unleash the virus you developed upon your own people then give us the firewall", one gunman told Markus.

There came a small whimper then sound of a gasping breath. Markus was not used to being treated in this manner .Was he going to break, the anwser came in soon with the firm "no". Smack, this sound was alot louder, a harder hitting punch. "Just do it geek before we have to start breaking pieces of your body", a gunman growled. It was a threat that would even scare a trained agent, though they were always prepared for beatings. Markus was not prepared but Brandt still could do nothing to help him. He just waited for the answer.

"I won't do it ", Markus's voice sounded really firm and insistent, he was being a hero. It would do him no good and Brandt could tell from the almost undetectable quaver that Markus knew that. Typically the gunman were not impressed stating,"right then we are going to start breaking things, you only need one finger to function to push a button".

Brandt heard whimpering again as Markus anticipated what was about to happen. He tried to move upward a little but the two feet forced him back down. "Time enough for you soon analyst', his captor growled.

So he had to lay there and listen as fists pummeled into flesh and Markus's whimpering changed into screams. "That's enough for now, you don't want to kill him", the driver firmly stated.

"Get the other one up off the floor lets deal with him". "Up, now, slowly", the man shifted his boots from Brandts back only to replace it with the hardness of a gun barrel.

Brandt slowly raised himself knowing he would have to act soon. Soon he was upright and facing the two gunman in the back and Markus Drey.

He stared at the programmer, blood ran down his face from both his eyes and mouth to drop onto the seats of the car. His jaw looked distorted and broken. It looked both painful and nasty yet something was wrong about it. If he looked closely he could pick out small flecks on Markus's face.

When one gunman reached up behind him to flip the small hidden switch of the cars internal camera Brandt knew everything he'd heard had been an act.

"Its makeup", Brandt found himself spluttering as he studied Drey. "Yes it is " Markus replied calmly, "now guys be careful because I got things a little wrong. Hes not just an analyst, he's an agent. Of course he probably suspected something all along. But then he was fool enough to come in this car. So I guess the jokes on you Brandt", Markus Drey told him in a growl.

"You were just pretending to be my friend and it hurts that I actually fell for it. But I am going to make you pay Brandt and its going to be very painful." Malrkus started to grin, "strip him off boys and get out the knives. Lets have a little fun".

Brandt kept himself impassive not showing the fear that was rising up within.

"How long can you keep that poker face Brandt", Markus asked as he watched the other men stripping off Brandts clothes.

Brandt wondered that himself.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- complexity

"Markus ran one finger down a knife slowly making sure Brandt could see him clearly, "it is nice and sharp", he reflected. "You were good Brandt I never even suspected, the tone was definitely put out." Not like my other spy", he nodded toward Xander. "A washed up agent who was easy to manipulate", he even became my friend". Brandt could see Xanders hand was still haging limply, still no help from that quarter. "It was because you were close that the secretary sent me in ", Brandt told Drey." He thought you might have influenced Xander a little too much". "It was a watching brief just to see if you were innocent. I wanted to believe you had nothing to do with the initial attack"", Brandt was hoping that piece of honesty might stall what Markus was planning to do to him.

That hope faded with blow to his face and an angry shout, "you wanted to believe yet I was just an assignment, go on be honest Brandt you were never really my friend". Markus pressed his face close to his own looking him in the eyes. Even though he really wanted to lie and save himself pain Brandt knew there was no point Markus was just too angry. So he admitted boldly, "I was just pretending Markus. Actually I thought you were an asshole".

To his great surprise Markus just laughed. "Well you got that right Brandt. "The secretary was a smart man to suspect me . But he's going to pay too because it is going to look like he made a very bad mistake", Markus told him.

"Yeah he did when he didn't have you shot a few years ago", even though saying that was a very bad idea it kind of just slipped out of his mouth. Markus did not look offended, just like a man who knows he's in control. He just screwed up his face and feined shooting himself through the heart." Now you are going to pay the price for betraying me Brandt. I am going to hurt you", his face twisted into hatred and he instructed two of the gunman, "Hold him tightly boys". Markus placed the tip of the knife against his chest and held it there. His eyes were still on Brandts own.

"IMF is going to be crippled by the infiltration of another virus and the person responsible is going to be the agent the secretary cleared of suspicion a few years ago". That's you by the way Brandt", Markus poked the knife into his skin.

Brandt could feel the heat of the blade and pain as his skin was pierced by he made no sound. He was determined not to give Drey the satisfaction of hearing how much the knife hurt. He was surprised Markus knew the details about the accusation. The secretary had told him there was no trace of the information left in the database. Markus was watching for changes and saw his pupils dilate slightly . "Ahh bet you didn't think I knw about your past Brandt. Well I found it all out today when I heard that rumor. You forget I am a programmer and know how to get information out of computers. Your past was buried deeply but I pried it loose. Then I decided I have to deal with you. Why not do it creatively, lay the blame at your door. Then they won't come looking for me and I'll enjoy a sunny beach and babes with the millions I'll collect. It was my plan all along to use IMF. I helped stop that first virus and they promoted me to chief programmer. Yes it would create suspicion but all I had to do was wait. I am a patient man. With my position secure I used the best technology in the world to create the weapons I could sell to the highest buyer. Now I have a virus, a firewall and the shut down codes at my disposal." I will sell IMF off one secret at a time until nothing is left'.

"Then I will be very rich while you Brandt will be held up as disgrace". Markus had held the tip of the knife against his chest the entire time. Now he forced it deeper into his skin and brought it down slowly almost lovingly. His eyes never left Brandts own watching for indications of pain.

Brandt closed his body to sensation and focused on his best poker face."Oh he's good boys not a flicker so far", Markus stopped the knfe again

Brandt could feel burning fire all down his chest and was feeling exhausted with the effort not to cry out. It was only his anger at Drey keeping his lips shut.

'Of course IMF will find my laptop and plans for the fake holdup. They'll believe like you did that it all went wrong and poor innocent me got compromised. Of course I valiantly held out. So you activated the virus yourself. Then unfortuntely you got killed by the men you hired to help you. All the evidence will be found in car. Naturally I'll damage it a little to look convincing. Nice plan isn't it." Markus told him as pulled the knife down further pressing deeper again. A line of blood appeared and ran down Brandts chest to drip upon the car seats. He was biting the inside of his mouth now . Markus was watching and taunted, "Doesn't it hurt Brandt, don't you want to scream". "Bet you never thought I could do this, mild manner joker Markus Drey the geek of the control room, you are not the only chameleon Brandt".

Brandt had to admit that was true, he had thought Markus was coerced into betrayal by the threats of violence. He had misjudged him and already the guilt of that was setting in. Oh no worries Brandt he told himself you are probably not going to live to have regrets. A tear came inot his eye no matter how hard he tried to shake it off. He hoped desparately that Markus would not notice.

"Ooh boys, I think he's crying", Markus gripped his head hard,"the pain has not started yet".

Brandt had enough of this, in move born of desperation he threw himself sideways then kicked out with his legs. He managed to kick off one of the gunmen but the other one held tight. The gunman in the front leaned over and slammed his fist hard into his head . He reeled with the force of the blow and for a moment was stunned. In seconds the gunmen were back in control holding onto him tightly. "I think those legs of his can do to much damage", Markus told the gunmen. "We will have to take care of that. This time Brandt you really are going to scream".

He remembered Markus and the two gunmen holding him down while the other one came around to place his hands upon his legs.

Pause flashback….

Now though his body was safe in another place it was like his mind was still in the car, he could even feel the pressure. "Brandt we are here" it was only Ethans words that brought him back to the here and now.

All of them were gathered closely around him . He could tell by the looks in their eyes that they wanted to touch him and offer reassurance but where not sure how the gesture would be received .Even Benji had understanding in his eyes.

" Markus was the joker of the control room and in the beginning I kind of liked him Ethan, isn't that awful"," Brandt turned his head to one side so he could not look into the eyes of the others and see their pity.

"You said the beginning so obviously the feeling changed", Ethan told him. He felt it was important that Brandt focused on the facts. He was relieved when Brandt nodded, "after a while I could sense there was something off about him. Yet there was never any proof he was the guilty party" . "His circumstance was like mine, he was good at what he did. IMF did not want to lose a valuable asset so had him watched."

"You never put a specific time frame on all of this but it must have happened 4 years ago. That was when Xander was reassigned", Ethan stated.

"Yes the secretarys plan was that if Markus was guilty he may try to recruit Xander. He was going in as Markus bodyguard with a disgruntled attitude toward IMF because of his reassignment", Brandt confirmed. "They did develop a bond but it never led to an accusation of betrayal".

"At least you had Xander on your side Brandt."Luther remarked. "Two against four is hardly a fair fight. But both of you were trained agents."

"Yes, there must be a happy ending to this Brandt, you are still alive", Benji told him.

Brandt did not answer and Ethan noticed a fine sheen of sweat all over his body. Maybe Brandt felt responsible for what had happened to Xander. Keeping the story inside was not going to help. He put his hand carefully on Brandts shoulder.

"Finish the story Brandt", he encouraged.

Flashback continued…

Markus pulled a laptop onto his knee. "You can watch me activate the virus Brandt", he told him.

He hovered his fingers over the keyboard for dramatic effect. "Markus what are you doing", it was only then that Brandt realized Xanders hand had stop dangling and he was now upright and conscious.

"Taking over the world", Markus did a silly high laugh like in an old sci fi movie. Xander stared at him then looked at Brandt. His eyes widened, "what happened to him", he asked. '"Agent Brandt was spying on me", Markus replied. "Agent Brandt", Xander studied him with an unreadable expression. "Yeah fooled you too didn't he, Markus sounded disgusted.

Brandt wanted this pointless conversation to end and action to happen so informed Xander. " Markus is a spy himself and intends to destroy IMF with one of his viruses."You have spent years working for them and have always been loyal. Now you have to act".

Xanders face screwed up as though he was in pain. He looked at Markus slowly disbelief on his face, "no that can't be true, he would not do that", he stuttered. Markus stared at him coldly, "actually I would. There are millions of dollars telling me to betray IMF". Fooled you too Xander. So come on then beat me ,up shoot me", he encouraged.

Brandt waited for Xander to come out of his shocked state .The former agent was looking over at him taking stock of his injuries and probably wondering what he was still capable of. "Go on tell Brandt what you are going to do to me", Markus encouraged. The other gunman held their weapons and grinned openly obviously feeling superior.

Xander reached out his hand as though he was going to grab a gun then he stopped and smiled, "I am going to do absolutely nothing", he declared. Markus and I have been friends longer than we have been in IMF. This was our plan all along". Markus and he both laughed, 'really had you going for awhile there didn't he", Markus taunted.

"Well it just proves what a total failure you are as an agent Brandt. You never saw his betrayal coming. Now we have you right where we want you. But there is a slight consolation , you are not going to live to feel remorse". Markus slapped his face hard then turned to Xander ,"would you like to hit Brandt a little as well Xander",

Xander looked like he was thinking that over before deciding ,'sure I might prove I have not lost my touch".

End flashback.

"So both of them were betrayers,it was 1 against 5", Luther was staring at him in disbelief amazed that he had survived . "How awful Brandt getting into that car believing you were safe because Xander was on your side", Benji tapped his hand lightly in what he hoped was a supportive gesture. Now he understood Brandts attitude and acknowledged he would have felt the same or probably worse.

Ethan had said nothing yet just considering Brandt for awhile. Then he said what he thought he could read on Brandts face. He wasn't easy to read but this was something he was very sure about.

"He knew about Xander", Ethan stated. The others gasped loudly all looking at Brandt with varying degrees of disbelief. "Surely you didn't know Brandt because if you did it would have been stu…",Benji cut off deciding that continuing was not going to help Brandt.

"You were about to say it was stupid to get into that car if I I knew", Brandt told him pointedly. "Then you did not know, Ethan is wrong, he has to be", Jane decided.

Brandt looked at each of their faces for a second then confessed, "he's not wrong". The startled looks in their eyes spoke volumes, they thought he was crazy or perhaps suicidal. Only Ethan had no judgement in his eyes.

"The secretary told me he believed Xander was innocent so he can't have been a suspect from the beginning", Ethan decided

"No",Brandt declared. "There was nothing to tie him to Markus." He was on holiday on the day the inital virus was unleashed so was never one of those considered to be suspects".

"As for the lack of information tying them together, we forget one thing, Markus is a programmer and information is his weapon. He could make sure there was nothing in any files . But he forgot about people power, it was just a chance thing, these things usually are. Anyway just a short while ago an agent from another division came to HQ as part of his mission debriefing. When he saw Xander and Drey just casually he said he had seen them together once at a bar and that they seemed very friendly. This was before Xander was assigned to be Drey's bodyguard. Of course it could have been innocent but since Xander had made of point of saying he did not know Drey it raised alarm bells".

"It meant that everything Xander had reported about Drey had to be suspect. Still the secretary had personal reasons for not believing Xander was guilty. They had worked together as agents and Xander had saved his life. He thought his loyalty could not be questioned".

"But he still had to follow up any hint of impropriety so he assigned me to watch both of them", Brandt concluded.

Ethan looked put out, "once again I never got the whole picture why didn't the secretary tell me about his suspicions toward Drey and Xander".

"Its that word again Ethan, suspicion there had to be firm proof. There were at least a 20 people who could have been responsible for the initial attack. If the secretary had fired all of them it would have decimated our ranks and removed some valuable people. He had to think of the fact that that had been the purpose of the initial attack"".

"Right up to the moment in the car there was nothing to suggest Xander or Drey were the culpruits". Once I knew I was hardly in a position to report what I found out", Brandt told him

"Still I can't believe you got into that car Brandt, it really was not a wise thing to do". She stopped short of usings Benjis word stupid looking like she wanted to either yell or shake him hard.

"It never started out as a trap because it really was Xanders birthday and a reservation had been made at a local restaurant. Markus changed the plans when he found out I was an agent. With the evidence Markus planted it'd look like I took the opportunity to plan a trap for Markus but it was my trap not his", Brandt told Jane. She did not change expression, "it doesn't make a difference Brandt, if you suspected them both then you should not have taken the risk of being alone with them."

Ethan was looking at Brandt's face to see the effect the accusation had upon him. He had not tried to stop Jane stating her feelings because he knew sooner or later someone else would say the same thing. How Brandt reacted would tell him what his emotional recovery was going to be like. What he saw on Brandts face made a sharping pain stab pass through him. Why did everyone always assume Brandt made foolish errors. He knew he had thought the worst for a moment. But Brandt had learnt something from his perceived error of judgement in Croatia.

His reactions now were caused by perhaps a touch of naivety that Markus or Xander would never hurt him as much as they had. He looked over at Luther, Jane and Benji and told them firmly , "If he suspected Drey and Xander then I can guarantee he had a plan for getting out of that situation."

Brandt reflected that sometimes Ethan trusted him more than he did himself. He should not blame the others for doubting him as he did the whole angst thing far too well. Perhaps it was time for them to get to know him better.

He started off with a mild rebuke, "I am not that stupid guys, Ethan is correcting in believing I went into that car with a plan" .

Benji, Jane and Luther looked rather ashamed of themselves. Ethan just said one word "chameleon".

"I wll finish the story now", Brandt told them

Restart flashback.

Xander had not been as rough on him as Markus but it had still been unpleasant. "Enough now Xander, lets just get this done", Markus pulled a flash drive from his pocket.

Brandt had been lying slumped against the seat ,quiet acting like he was truly beaten. Everything ached and the blood from knife wounds Markus had inflicted drenched the car seat in red. The other three gunman had stopped boxing him into the seat and now just looked bored.

It was the perfect time to act.

Markus had plugged in a USB and pushed the button to activate the virus when he leapt forward and quickly typed in a special code he had memorized.

"You bastard", Markus reeled back as a firewall sprung up around IMFs mainframe protecting the information from being compromised.

"Maybe the joke was really on both of you, didn't really think you had me fooled did you", Brandt muttered out through his swollen jaw. One of the gunman added to his pain by hitting him hard then pressing him back against the seat again.

"What did he do", that gunman asked. "He activated another firewall, one that as yet doesn't have a shut down code", Markus replied.

He swung around and punched him hard in the gut several times until he doubled over. Xander added a few more blows for good measure. Finally Markus's anger seemed to be sated once more and he calmed himself. "Well I suppose it is not a disaster". He thought for a moment, "in fact I think it might turn to our advantage. My buyers might be interested to see how well a firewall works . Then I might show them how I can get IMF themselves to turn it off. You are the only one who knows it is a firewall and not a virus. We don't even have to change the fake evidence". Yes it could work well. Naturally I will have to spend time working on a shutdown code but that's alright. I don't mind waiting a little longer".

"Xander you and I will go and contact our buyers then work on the shut down code. We will call you gentlemen with the code which you will plant on the USB and leave in the car with Brandts body for IMF to find."

"Once he is dead I will put the balance of your payment into your accounts", Drey told the gunman.

"I don't know if I would trust him. He wants you to commit murder afterall", Brandt threw that comment at the gunmen hoping to throw them off track.

End flashback.

"So I guess it worked and the gunman beat up Xander and Drey then shot them. Then they decided to deal with you and that's when you retaliated", Benji guessed.

"Those gunmen certainly did a number on Drey and Xander", Jane mused.

Brandt frowned at them looked like he did not understand. Benji saw the reaction and went over to the one remaining laptop and activated the picture of Drey's body.

"Perhaps he did not see what happened to him",Benji told the others.

An alarm immediately start to squeal as Brandts heart rate sped up alarmingly. "Turn it off Benji", Ethan demanded.

"All right but I just thought it might help to see that his attackers were dead", Benji defended.

Brandt was pale and gasping and Ethan was thinking of shooting him up with more pain killers. The reaction was almost over the top and he was getting worried. Until Brandt managed to gasp out, "that is not Markus, he used someone elses body and manipulated the data on the computer. Both he and Xander are very much alive".

Then Ethan understood completely how Brandt felt.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The ultimate Con

"I suppose we should have anticipated that", Ethan acknowledged. "Those bouncers bodies were conveniently on hand for them to use".But it still annoys me that all this time we felt in the dark about the enemy when they have been right in front of us. Drey and Xander worked for IMF all these years just gathering intel and waiting to strike. Geez I am so sick of having to watch my back."

That last was an explosion that actually had the others wondering if Ethan Hunt had finally had enough of being a spy. He seemed to know he'd reacted a bit too strongly and shrugged at them.

Benji hurriedly checked the IMF site and was relieved when the dancing bunny programme appeared. "Your plan was brilliant Brandt", he thought he had better make up for his earlier comment." Your analyst skills would defintely come in handy in working out Dreys personality and knowing what he was capable of. I like how you foiled him by activating the firewall. Though the firewall should have been more distinguishable from the actual virus because I almost did turn it off."

"That was the whole purpose of the countdown clock Benji. Drey knows I have been found but I was not in good shape. He was hoping you would see the clock believe there was a deadline and turn off the firewall. But if the clock gets to zero and the firewall is still up then he knows that I have recovered enough to talk. At that point he will drop the firewall", Brandt told them.

"So we still have a deadline", Jane pointed out the obvious as she looked over at the still counting clock. "Alright our main priorities now are finding Drey and Xander and turning off that virus", Ethan brought them back to focusing on the mission. He turned to Brandt, "you said that maybe you could find them", he reminded him. "Yes it depends on how smart Drey really is. My hold act in that car was to make him think that all the time I had planned to activate the firewall and that was the only weapon I possessed". Ethan smiled slightly at him, "what did you do", he asked."Bugged Drey", Brandt allowed himself a smirk.

Flashback IMF car

He'd got hit again for trying to cause division in the ranks. He had hardly felt the blow, his body seemed numb now used to the abuse. Or perhaps he was just dying, if he was going to carry out his plan he better do it now.

Markus and Xander were making ready to get out of the car. Brandt balled his fist and slammed it one time hard into Markus face making sure he drew blood and inserted the small tracking device into the bloodstream. Markus smacked him back but it was only half hearted, "you are going to your death now Brandt", he stated firmly. "Don't have the guts to do it yourself", Brandt mocked. That was probably a statement that could get him killed but he doubted it. He had studied Drey while working in the control room and built up a profile of his behavior. Drey loved to play games and hurt people in his programs but in real life he was a bully but not a killer. As for Xander he was indeed a washed up agent who was just focused on money but did not have the guts to commit cold blooded murder to get the payoff. "You are beneath my consideration Brandt", Drey made that sound convincing to the gunmen. "Whatever", Brandt replied. "Shoot him twice gentlemen once in the stomach then through the temple", Markus scowled at him but said the piece about shooting like he was just talking about having a coffee. Brandt made sure he did not react, activating the firewall had its intended purpose of dividing the numbers and he had to make sure Xander and Drey did not realize they were being played.

Minutes later they were gone driving from the scene in a second car that had been concealed out of sight. "Lets drive a little more off road", one gunman suggested as he started up the car. They drove off through the night with Brandt lying still with his eyes closed. He wanted to give the impression he was harmless. They stopped a short time later and from the lights Brandt could see they were in an area covered with dense bushes. Unless you were really looking for it the car may not be found for awhile. That was definitely a sobering thought. The gunmans phone rang and a short conversation ensued. "Well Drey did not take long to find a way to shut down your pathetic attempt to stop him", the man told him. "Now I will just leave this code on the stick by your dead body". "Don't we want make sure he cannot offer us any resistance before we shoot him", another gunman asked. The first gunman turned to look over Brandt, "he's mostly broken , plus Drey wants him to be awake when he gets it".

"Dreys not here now", Brandt remarked lazily as he looked the man in the eye. 'Don't try your stupid tricks again, we are loyal", came the angry response. "I am just pointing out that he can't help you", Brandt told them as he launched himself at them once more.

They were surprised that someone as battered as him could put that much intensity into the fight. He had even suppressed the pain in his legs to kick at them. Within a very short space of time he had gained control of a gun.

End flashback

"I shot two of them and pushed them out of the car. The last one was a lot harder as I was getting weaker from bloodloss. All the guns were out of bullets so I had to subdue him hand to hand. In the end I managed to get the door open and kick him out. Then I tried to drive the car to get help, that's when I crashed", Brandt replied.

"You should have had backup Brandt", Jane was mad again. "You could have easily died".

"I would have died initiating the fire wall and tagging Drey, the result would have been the same", Brandt told her. Jane scowled at him, "shit Brandt you really are trying to make up for being a suspect yourself".

He widened his eyes taking in Janes observation. Was that really why he had done what he had , to prove loyalty. Maybe he had to acknowledge that it was. But he had not died for his country instead he was living to defend it again. "Okay so I knew it could end in my death", he admitted it out loud. "But Drey would only take the bait if he believed I was alone and vulnerable. I can do that whole vulnerable thing well ", he could hear his tone was slightly self mocking but did not try and disguise it. "Welcome to the human race", Ethan told him gently before bringing the conversation back on track." So we can hopefully track Drey, but what about the virus is there a shut down code."

"The firewall was designed as a defence against the virus. As you can see it shuts the users out of their own system. That is another reason why Markus is in no hurry to shut it down." Markus created the virus without a shut off code and even though most of IMF are working on it they have not managed to eradicate it yet", Brandt told them the disturbing news first.

Ethan pursed his lips, he was not too crazy about the plan Brandt had carried out. Yes it was as Benji had pointed out brilliant . But there was a major issue in that Drey could still drop the firewall himself and activate the virus to destroy IMF any time he chose. So why leave such an obvious gaping hole in the plan, it made no sense. Brandt would have happily laid down his life for IMF but he would have made sure that virus was gone while doing so. He was missing something. He looked over at Brandt noting that his face had the 'I challenged you to work out the rest' look.

'So was that all your plan entailed" , he asked mildly. Brandt grinned at him again and dropped the bombshell on them, " I can turn off the virus".

"What", Benji spluttered, 'why not do it…"he shook his head as Brandt plan became clear. "If IMF suspected Drey they must have put controls on what he did. So I am guessing that perhaps another programmer hacked his programs and found a way to turn off the virus. " "Yes, so he believes he has a weapon that cannot be shut down. If I turn off the virus now, Drey will know he has been fooled and he and Xander will disappear. This way we get both of them plus all the potential buyers, Brandt responded.

He closed his eyes briefly ,was it him or had this room just got hotter. If he admitted it to himself he had felt increasing worse since waking. But if he admitted it to the others they would probably leave him somewhere and carry out this mission alone. He wanted to be with them when they caught Markus.

"I dearsay that if your plan had failed the secretary would have turned off the virus himself", Ethan acknowledged. ""So lets get down to business and find Drey and Xander.

Benji was thinking deeply, "Markus programming skills may cause some issues for us. It is too easy for him to enter false information and lead us astray."

"Yes and if we place false information Markus may just realize he is being played", Luther pointed out. He looked over at the laptop, "if we use the police departments programme to track Drey he might find out about it".

Ethan looked over at Brandt and waited to hear what he thought of that. Brandt seemed unfocused staring at the walls and the sheen of sweat still covered his body. Looking at the monitors attached to him Ethan realized his temperature had crept upward. But Brandt was trying to disguise his condition just telling him "naturally IMf designed a tracking device that is not connected to our main systems".

Moving casually over by him Ethan touched him and noted the heat in his body. "Feeling alright", he asked Brandt. Ethan had a direct way of looking at someone and Brandt knew he would be carefully analysing him when he answered." It's just been hard to talk about what happened", Brandt used the most convenient excuse knowing full well he was probably not going to get away with it.

"Ah ha, I guess that is not quite a lie Brandt, more like avoidance", Ethan told him. Brandt sucked in a breath and decided to tell the full truth, "I feel awful but I am not going to be left behind Ethan. This is one mission I need to see through to the end", he stated firmly.

"I know that you want to see Markus caught, I would as well", okay acknowledgement first Ethan decided. Brandt bent his head slightly sideways studying him with that steady blue eyed gaze. Sometimes when he looked at him like that Ethan wondered if Brandt could read his mind. That thought was cemented even more when Brandt stated, "I am waiting for the kicker Ethan".

"You are not in any condition to help us", It was Jane who got it out first. "Give me a gun and I'll show Markus exactly how good I am at shooting him", Brandt replied.

For a reply Ethan simply moved over to the dwindling supply of drugs he'd gotten from the ambulance. He could feel Brandts eyes on him. 'Benji will initiate the tracker and if you give him the information be ready to shut down the virus. There will be no arguments over this Brandt. You are on our team and you do as I say", Ethan told him bluntly.

The blue eyed stare came back, Brandt showed no sign of being intimidated. "Sorry no deal", he replied.

Ethan felt like he was going to burst a blood vessel why could Brandt simply not do as he said. "It was not a discussion Brandt", he snapped out.

Ignoring the tone of disapproval Brandt told him with some satisfaction "When I said I can shut down the virus, I meant 'I' not Benji ,I can't tell him how to do it".

Benji, Jane and Luther held their breath watching to see if Ethan would believe what Brandt had told them. They all thought it was a piece of fiction brought into play by a man who was now desparate upon revenge.

Sure enough Ethan spat out, "don't expect me to believe that Brandt because IMF doesn't put all its eggs in one basket". "No they don't but they also tried to anticipate all the risks in this mission. The main one is that Markus programming skills were the best in IMF. Thus he has the ability to make changes to the original virus mutating it and making it harder to stop. He could drop the firewall and mutate the virus before we can shut it down", Brandt knew this explanation was not helping Ethan to decide not to knock him out as he was still drawing up the drug. He forged onward, "thus the code that had to be entered is adaptive to the situation. I studied Drey for awhile and know how he designs those crazy shut down codes. I can act quickly to counter any move he makes. Benji is good at what he does but does he know Drey well enough to know what code he is going to use within seconds", Brandt asked a question to whch he already knew the answer.

Ethan looked over at Benji and saw him shake his head, Dammit Brandt had maneuvered them into a situation where he had to be part of the team. Still he probably had not expected what he was going to tell him next. "Alright, you come but if you are the only one who can shut down the virus then don't expect to be on the front lines. You information makes you an asset that needs protection".

Brandt hated that thought even more but at least now Ethan would have to take him with them.

Luther thought it was always interesting watching Ethan engaged in a verbal sparring match. He had lost many a discussion to Ethan so he knew how good he was at convincing people to follow his plan. But Brandt was obviously not as easy to convince. Ethan had never really let others challenge him that much and Luther wondered if Ethans purpose in letting Brandt get away with it was to groom him as a potential replacement when he eventually retired from active duty. It was certainly an interesting thought and he'd ask Ethan about it later. Right now though he had a question related to the mission.

"Okay but to bring up the elephant in the room or rather the man behind the iron door", what are we going to do with that cop, Luther asked.

All of them had for the moment forgotten about Nigel Blake."We still cannot let him go because he knows Brandt is alive and conscious", Ethan pointed out. "What about letting him go and carrying some false information . He would inform his department and Markus would find out through his hack into the system", Benji suggested.

It was actually a good idea and Ethan found himself seriously considering the proposal. He ran through everything that had happened up to now in his mind. The more he thought about the high stakes they were playing against the more one horrible nagging question intruded upon him. Finally it burst from his lips, "I hate to actually say this about a law enforcement officer but can we trust him."

"Luther brought up the point about information planted in the police departments computer. The fact that the information about Drey and Xanders bodies was in there is one example. Blake may be a genuine police officer but that whole scenario out in the night could have been about him maneuvering us into a position where we would take him with us", Ethan pointed out.

Jane , Benji and Luther all looked toward the iron door considering this piece of information. "He does not know much", Benji pointed out. "He knows that Brandt is alive and possesses information about the enemy", Ethan remarked. "Chameleon" , Brandt muttered," Drey could have been pulling the same trick that I did with him planting someone seemingly innocent amongst us".

"Shit either way we cannot take the risk", Ethan stated. "So we leave him locked up there,we all know that it would be practically a death sentence. Once we are gone the place will shut down and he will eventually run out of air. Not a nice way for someone who may be completely innocent to die".

It was a horrible thought to all of them.

" If he is guilty of conspiring then we cannot feed him the false belief Brandt is dead or else Markus will wonder why the firewall is still active", Benji pointed out.

"So we need to know for sure whose side he is on", Ethan concluded.

"There needs to be no doubt whatsoever", Luther told Ethan. Benji was watching the two of them exchange glances and found his mouth had gone dry. "How are we going to get that proof, torture him, he could be a genuine police officer", Benji protested. "I will ask him some questions and test his answers", Ethan told him.

"Okay so say we findout he does work for Markus or cannot prove that he does not, what do we do with him then", Benji asked. Ethan looked at Luther and Jane in a silent exchange and Benji felt himself feeling rather sick.

"You are going to take him out either way aren't you ", he asked, shooting people while engaged in a battle was one thing but just pulling the trigger without provocation was another. "If he is innocent then we will take him with us. But if he is guilty ,well we cannot take a hostile into a violtile situation. So yes sorry Benji but we will take him out. But not to worry I won't ask you to do it", Ethan told him.

Benji looked over at the heavy iron door and hoped Nigel Blake could prove to Ethan that he was just an ordinary cop.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13- guilt or innocence

Ethan had thought over many angles when dealing with Nigel Blake and had finally decided on a course of action that should help him establish his guilt or lack of guilt. Now he stood in front of the iron door taking a few calming breaths before opening it wide.

Nigel found himself blinking as his eyes adjusted to increased light in his cell. Getting up off what passed for a bed he approached the light. He stopped at the edge of his cell noting that now he was permitted to go out into the other room. That fact made him pause because the insistent "I can't let you out' of before had obviously changed. Looking out into the other room he decided it was not much of an improvement over his cell just being bigger. A almost uncomfortable humidity was in the air and the place was beginning to smell like unwashed people. He took all that information in before turning to the chair where he could see the back of a man. "Well this is a bit of a change, from one small cell into bigger one. I suppose it is a step up but I kind of have to ask myself why things have changed", he stated.

The man turned to face him and he recognized one of the EMTs from the ambulance. His appearance had changed somewhat with the craggy whiskered look adorning his face and bags under his eyes that indicated he probably hadn't slept much. That information made Nigel jump to a conclusion, "so things have got worse", he hinted. He noted there was no sign of anyone else in the room, though he knew from a few items scattered about that others had been present.

"This is a difficult mission", Ethans response of course revealed exactly nothing . He sent the others out of sight hoping that if guilty Nigel may try and take the opportunity to escape. Naturally he may do this if innocent as well but the difference would be a guilty man would go for an action that would kill or maim . There was also a possibility that Blake would play it straight hoping to be released and then leave to contact Markus. If he was guilty of collaboration then Ethan doubted he'd know where Drey was as that was too risky. But he would know how to contact him. Ethan had a strategy worked out for that scenario as well.

"Not exactly forthcoming are you, it seems to be in your code, whatever code spies live by", Nigel turned his gaze upon him.

He was waiting to see if his observation had any effect. But the other man just shrugged. "Really talkative as well I see. But I am guessing you must have got me out here for a reason and playing silly games was not it", Nigel started to move seemingly aimlessly around the room.

Looking casually about quickly he established there were no visible exits. At first glance there was also not much of use in the room with sporting minimal furniture. A laptop on a table drew his attention and he moved closer for a look. He noted that several pink rabbits were on the screen dancing and singing. Amidst them was a white rabbit with a large clock that was counting backwards. "What is that", he asked his captor.

"That is our enemy", Ethan told him. "You mean your enemy, since I am your prisioner", Nigel turned the conversation back to Ethan. He was hoping to draw the other man out and find out exactly what he wanted. He doubted it would be easy since the man was a spy. But he was determined to do his best.

Ethan thought that Blake was clever at manipulating conversations and trying to gain the upper hand. It was a skill that came in handy for a cop but it also did not mean he was not guilty. "I meant what I said, this effects everyone who is responsible for protecting the country and its people. It is the weapon of the future, a computer virus."

"If it is our enemy how come it is not attacking our systems", Nigel passed the conversation back again. He was still not sure what this man wanted but even though he looked tired a careworn there was a something about him that made every sense tingle and tell him to be wary.

"Once it is sold it will effect every law enforcement agency compromising not only every police officer but every witness who has every spoken out about a crime. Think about what that would do to the police department",Ethan told him bluntly. It was essential he gave out this information and it did not compromise IMF in any way. If Blake was guilt of collaboration with Markus he'd already know everything anyway.

The way the spys eyes sparkled with passion and the intensity of his voice immediately got Nigel's attention because he could imagine what would happen and how he'd feel if private information was compromised. He was reluctant to let a spy gain the upper hand but had to also admit things looked interesting, "Alright thats good for a start". So what do you want,some kind of help. You are going to find that easy to get because of kidnapping me", Nigel stated honestly. He wanted to rant and rave about that but held off because he knew it would just waste valuable energy .

"It may be that we will need help. We know who is responsible for this virus", Ethan let slip that tiny sliver of information, baiting his hook to catch a collaborator. "Ah I am guessing that was the important information your colleague possessed", Nigel hinted. He looked about again trying to see if there was any obvious place the injured man could be placed. Some of the lights on the far side of the room had been turned off but as Nigels eyes adjusted he could see the vague outline of a door. Okay so the fact the lights were off could be a way of concealing the whereabouts of other spies from him. It also made him laugh, these spooks were overly cautious but so far he had see three of them. He doubted that he'd get any match if he ran their details through the departments computer so why still hide. It was a question that bothered him because for some reason he knew the answer was very important.

Ethan watched the way Nigel looked around the room and took things in, he knew it would not be long before he figured out exactly why he had been allowed out of his cell. He needed to drop the important information into the conversation before that happened

"My colleague told me a lot of things", Ethan dropped a provocative suggestion. Nigel took hold of the piece of bait like a hungry fish replying , "if you want my help then I need to know what those things were". Even though that was a leading question it was still not evidence Blake was working for the enemy. He could just be gathering information like any good detective. It was time to tighten the screws.

In addition to knowing who is responsible he also knows where they are right now", Ethan told him. It was a piece of information that should scare any body who worked for Markus Drey.

Nigel looked skeptical and Ethans heart rate increased, an enemy would want certain evidence of that fact before they acted yet so would any good cop. So far the stakes were even and he was not sure which way he was leaning though naturally he hoped Blake was innocent.

Finally afer a short pause Nigel asked ,"if you know that much why are you not out there arresting him or whatever spooks do to people".

It was a natural question and Ethan simply told him the answer."As I mentioned he is selling the virus and will have a lot of potential buyers. For the countrys continued security in the future we need to apprehend them as well".

"There as as you might have gathered only a few of us. So as I said we may need the help of local authorities as well." It was Ethan decided perfectly true, having the police as backup woud prove very useful but he had to guarantee that all of them were legitimate first.

Ethan moved over to the laptop and initiated the tracking program. 'It looks like our enemy is only about 100 km away", he told Blake. Blake looked at the little flashing dot, "if this man is clever then that might not even be him", he countered.

It was another question that could be taken either way. "He is unaware that he is being tracked", Ethan dropped the last piece of information. "We should be able to take him and anyone else completely unaware. Though naturally there will be a bit of gunplay", he stated. Now he watched Nigels expression waiting for any tell tale sign he was disturbed by what he had said.

"You guys really are clever, Nigel acknowledged as he turned his head away. That made Ethan miss seeing the expression and wonder just for an instant if he did it on purpose. Nigels head and eyes were back to him again and he asked." But to bring you back to what for me is the most important piece of information what do you want me to do". "Come with us and help us out", Ethan told him. Nigels eyebrows arched upward, "you really have changed your stance ", he remarked.

He sounded a little suspicious and Ethan pointed toward the countdown clock, "once that reaches Zero all our information will be compromised.", he remarked. So I guess you could say we are desparate". He thought he had done a good job of making it all seem totally believable.

Nigel went quiet obviously thinking things through. As yet Ethan had not a firm establishment of guilt. Blake may just be hoping to be let go. So it was time to make it even harder. "Alright I will contact my department and tell them everything", Nigel told Ethan. "Ah when I said we need your departments help I meant at the end when we already have cornered our quarry .Our enemy is a hacker so can track any information posted on the computer. He will be watching to see if there is any indication of anyone coming after him. It could be even the slightest thing and he will be gone. Unfortuntely that means that for now it is just you were are inviting along. Even then we have to be sure you could handle dealing with highly trained professionals", Ethan told him.

He had now closed the trap if Nigel was guilty he would realize that he could only leave in their company and hence be unable to contact Markus. Ethan was waiting to see if the man was deciding to act.

At the moment Nigel was just pacing around the room looking like he was thinking deeply. He looked tense but not at all like he was about to take any sort of action. But Ethan still watched with eyes honed to detect even the slightest motion. He knew that out of site Luther had a gun trained on Nigel Blake and was ready to fire. Luther could be counted on to act and not over think what he was going to do. That was definitely Benjis problem, thinking too much. He did not think adversely of Benji for not wanting to take out Nigel Blake, he had been the same once. But years of betrayal had left an indelible stain upon his heart. Both Jane and Brndt could have also pulled the trigger ,they too were a little had seen too much. For a minute he reflected on how difficult his life really was as he stood here contemplating killing a law enforcement officer.

Nigel had completed almost a circuit of the room now. He was certain that the others were behind the closed door at the far end of the large bunker. When he stopped in front of that door and pushed the lever to open it he expected a reaction from his captor. He got nothing. Opening the door he discovered the room was empty. "If you want me to work with you then I am going to meet your colleggues ,where are they", he asked. "Preparing", It was another response that reveiled nothing. He looked over the room again and made the determination that the others were not in the bunker. Now he stopped still and stared at Ethan. It was a look Ethan recognized from other agents as the checking you out look, Nigel was assessing how dangerous he was.

So he was alone with this spy, so the question was should he act on the impulse to get away. The spy looked a lot more tired and wary, he would not be on his best form and if he was lucky he would not expect an attack from a fellow law enforcer.

Nigel began to pace again preparing himself and thinking deeply about what to do. He was also tired and not on his best form, the information he'd been given still swirled through his brain as he tried to work it all out. He had nearly completed another circuit of the bunker when something he had not noticed before caught his eye.

Ethan only saw the slightest twitch before Nigel Blake smoothed his featured back but it was enough to let him know that he had seen the weapon he had concealed . It had been placed there to give a guilty man a weapon to use against him. He had hidden it well enough that it would not be an obvious plant more like something misplaced by tired agents. Blake knew the stakes now and if he was a truly dedicated police officer he would not attempt to use the weapon in a lethal manner. Ethan threw off another bout of tiredness, he could not let himself slip at this crucial moment. Sure he had Luther as back up but it would still ony take one well placed bullet to end his life.

He worked it out that there were only about 10 footsteps to the weapon. Nigel looked over at the spy and began to calculate his movments . Of course he made himself look like he had not a care in the world.

Ethan was not fooled when Nigel went into "I'm not doing anything mode", he held himself ready and waited .

Nigel paced again, past the weapons then around. He cut this circuit of the bunker shorter making it look like aimless wandering but planning to end his walk only a few footsteps from the weapon. He noticed the spy had not moved and was simply watching him. Head down he contined his stroll, "I have to think this through carefully", he stated to the spy. 'Of course you do", Ethan told him calmly.

Stopping steps from the weapon Nigel Blake looked over at the spy for the last time. Ethan knew instinctively that the time had come. Blake was now good enough to hide any obvious signs from him but Ethan had years of working as a spy on his side.

There was barely two steps to the weapon . He'd still have to bend to pick it up then bring it up in one fluid motion and …..

Ethan was ready to act, any minute now something was going to happen.

Nigel was within reaching distance of the gun, any minute now he was going to act.

"We are on the same side so when are we leaving ", Nigel Blake stepped past the concealed weapon to move toward him again.

The question startled Ethan because for a minute he had been sure Nigel was about to grab the gun. Nigel did not know why he had not taken up the weapon, it was just in then instant that he was going to act that he changed his mind and did not. His tired mind finished processing what the spy had told him and figured out that getting away would serve no useful purpose. Justice would be better served if he helped out the agents.

"We will be ready in about ten minutes", Ethan felt profoundly relieved that Blake was on their side.

"Oh by the way, I am a very good shot, you needed worry that I can hold my own against professionals. Perhaps you could let me have that weapon", Nigel pointed to the concelaled one.

It was a way of letting Ethan know he had seen it. "Sure you can have that one, though we'll have to find some bullets first", Ethan told him blandly.

Nigel felt shocked for one horrible second, an unloaded gun would have been no use at all. Lucky he had decided not to fire a shot at the wall over the spys head then run for the door.

It was only 5 minutes later when he was following the spy out of the door when the truth finally hit him.

He stopped still, "the gun was a test", he stuttered out. Ethan turned to face him, "yes", he admitted, 'with the enemy being able to access any computer you could have easily been someone other than a genuine police detective."

Coldness descended upon Nigel Blake as he realized that the information given to him had been part of the trap. "Do you blame us for being cautious", Ethan could not read the expression on Blakes face yet.

"The detective part of me doesn't but the other heck what were you going to do if you weren't satisfied I was innocent", Nigel found his feet could not move another inch.

"Shoot you", Luther came up behind him and walked past as he told him the horrible truth.

"Shit", Nigel felt a horrible stabbing fear as he found himself surrounded by 4 agents. The fact that one of them was a beautiful woman did not help one little bit. "Now you know what we have to do to ensure the safety of our country do you still want to come along. We could leave you tied up somewhere else", Ethan remarked.

Bending himself over double and taking a few calming breaths Nigel tried to see things from their point of view. He had worked for enough years as a detective to know that sometimes the lines between right or wrong got blurred. But heck they were going to kill him if he could not prove he was loyal.

He turned back to them feeling rather sick but still determined that he would help. "I will come but don't expect me to suddenly want to be a spy it is not something I could stomach".It was said with a deep passion that indicated he was deadly serious and would never be convinced otherwise.

Ethan understood how he felt and nodded, "agreed".

The made their way to the ambulance which now resembled just a large van. Luther had been busy stripping off the lights and any marks that coud be distinguishable. They were lucky in that the bunker had a large supply of paint.

Brandt was already secured in the back and a little drugged for the journey. Ethan was sure his need for proper medical attention was increasing and vowed to complete this last part of the mission quickly.

...

Undisclosed Location just over 100km away

Markus Drey picked up his phone noting it had no messages, "still nothing, I thought by now he would have gotten in contact". Xander shrugged, "I believe we can trust him to let us know what is happening. The firewall is still active so prehaps Brandt is dead." Yeah well I hope the bastard is dead. But I have this feeling Xander, like he was playing us", Markus bit his lip. "Maybe I should just active the virus now and put an end to IMF". "Yeah but showing off the firewall is earning us millions Markus. What can Brandt do. I would not worry. We do have our chameleon afterall", Xander assured him. Finally Markus smiled again, "yes we do", he stated.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14- confrontation

Nigel Blake relaxed against the ambulance walls and closed his eyes. They were now in full 'mission modes and the spies had all assumed silly codenames. The leader called himself 'steel', an appropriate name for a man who had considered shooting him. Steel was in the front of the ambulance with 'gold', the big dark man who had a quiet menace about him. He was thankful he was in the back with the lovely woman who very appropriately had the code name 'diamond'. His eyes were focused on her right now, running up her lovely long legs up her bottom to her head. But he was not checking her out, just making sure she did not turn around. Diamond was busy checking on the injured spy who bore the code name platinum. Even though he had received treatment he looked worse than when Nigel had first seen him. The spies were risking his life taking him along . Yet it was none of his business what they decided to do to their own colleagues.

Looking sideways he ran his gaze over 'coal' , the Englishman who was a computer expert. He was the only member of the team who had not rested, Nigel knew that from the spies chatter. So he guessed it would be only a matter of time before the swaying of the ambulance caused 'coal ' to nod off. It would not take them long to reach their destination so he would have to iniate his plan before they got there. In those last moments when he had thought of reaching for the gun something else had sprung into his mind, which was why he'd held off. Now he had an almost perfect opportunity to act on his idea, all he had to do was wait for the right moment. It came barely minutes later when coals eyes slid closed and his chin dropped down to his stomach. Diamond was still examining platinum and seemed like she might stay that way for awhile. Blake carefully stood up and turned to face the sleeping spy. The flashing dot of their destination still held steady on the lap top which remained balanced on his knee. The machine was not his target, carefully he reached for what he needed.

He had only just managed to remove it ,initiate his plan and was sitting back down when 'diamond' turned to face him. Hurriedly he covered his movement making it look like a stretch. Her gaze was fixed upon his speculatively so he decide a little verbal distraction was in order. "I wondered how it would work out with 3 men and one attractive woman, I guess he must be your favourite", Blake pointed toward 'platinum'. He noticed 'diamonds' eye flash angrily and all thoughts of her merely being a beautiful woman faded, she was just a deadly as they were.

"I am just concerned , Jane countered. "Really", Blake sounded disbelieving and stared pointedly at the hand that Jane still held in her own. "We are colleagues only", she growled as she dropped the hand. It was an reaction that made Blake move back a step and suddenly fear for his safety."Alright, geez don't bite my head off Diamond", Blake told her shakily. Jane pushed the attitude back down knowing Blake did not deserve her anger. It was after all a natural question. How was Blake to know about Hanaway and what he'd meant to her. She could not bring herself to think of a new relationship yet. Even then she doubted she would ever consider again consider another spy as a partner and especially not one of her own team. Jane looked back over at Blake noting her looked a little bashful, was that just the personal nature of the questions or something else. She was almost certain he had been moving from beside Benji when she turned. Looking over at her colleague Jane saw that he looked asleep. It would be the perfect moment for someone to take advantage. She ran her eyes hurriedly down Benji and relaxed when she noted his gun was still under the jacket. Blake was only going to be given a weapon when they arrived at their destination. Ethan had decided that Nigel was the sort who might just take action without his permission and wanted to curb those sort of impulses. She looked back at him again and noted his eyes had been focused on her face this entire time. He made it look like he was admiring her, but she knew that was just a cover. Blake was trying to be clever and Jane did not know why he was acting like that. Ethan was convinced Blake was not on Markus's side and Jane usually took the team leader at his word. But Blake behaviour was making her wonder.

Dammit she had a way of staring at him, like seeing right through him. Time for some more conversation, "so whats a beautiful woman like you doing working as a spy", he asked. This time the flattery was not forced, she was beautiful.

Jane could hear the sincerity but was not letting herself become friendly with this cop. "I wanted to serve my country", she told him the old worn line. Blake looked her over slowly taking in the figure and curves, "there are many other ways of doing that that won't get you tortured or killed", he stated.

"Yeah I know", it was just three simple words but Jane poured all her understanding into them. Too many times she had cheated death or serious injury in this business one day she knew she may just run out of luck. For a moment Blake wanted to take her in his arms and hold her tightly but knew he'd probably get a sharp slap. Instead he just looked at her gently telling her honestly 'I admire your courage and dedication".

He could be almost sweet Jane decided and the way he spoke now was not forced, maybe she had been wrong. A small squeeze on her hand distracted her and she turned away from Blake toward William Brandt. "You should rest ", she told Blake.

xxxxxxxxx Breakxxxxxxxx

Undisclosed location 74 miles away

Markus looked at the message on his cell, "they are on the move" it read. So Ethan and the others had come out of hiding ,what did that mean. He had to be sure they were not coming this way. His philosophy in these things was simple, why deal with it yourself when others can do the job for you. All that was ever needed was money. He was amazed at how quickly someone would betray if offered 1 million dollars. It was not alot of money to some but to others that much was an unreachable dream. He smiled looking at the buyers gathering around him with more money than he had ever dreamed of in their possession. So what if he betrayed his former colleagues or even his country. He could live anywhere he chose and do anything he wanted. He thought of what he had typed in response, "deal with them", it was simple but decisive and would put an end to Ethan and his team. He grinned wider, "mission accomplished Hunt", he stated.

xxxxxxxxx

disguised ambulance enroute to Markus's location

"Where's my gun", Will asked Jane intently as his eyes opened to stare at her. Jane could see the fever in his eyes, yet they still held this fire that she recognized all to well. She had possessed the same fire when she was running after Moreau in Dubai. Maybe she could find a very high window for Will to kick Markus Drey out of. "Steel has it", Jane replied. "Steel, that's a good name for him", Brandt knew immediately who that code name referred to. "Yeah it is", Jane acknowledged. You will have to talk to him about your gun". Brandt pulled a face knowing Ethans answer to his request would be no. But maybe he could talk him around if he tried hard enough. All he wanted to do was to get to Markus Drey. He asked Jane, "I hate to sound like some kid on a long trip, but are we there yet".

"It won't be long. Steel doesn't want to drive too fast in case we attract attention". We have changed the markings of this ambulace but can't do anything about its make and model", Jane told him.

"Wake sleeping beauty over there". We need to know immediately if anything changes", Brandt told Jane. Jane promptly threw a rolled up towel at Benjis head making him jump awake with a splutter. He looked rather ashamed of himself. "Stay awake Benji", Brandt advised.

Nigel observed the way that 'platinum' gave orders and decided he must be second in command. Even though he was not in good shape he still carried an intensity that was almost overpowering. He had observed they all carried that power in different degrees. It was something he lacked but did not care. He did not want their complicated lives. Being a cop could be difficult but it was still a whole lot easier than being a spy.

'Coal was moving now and Nigel had to force his eyes away from the man in case they betrayed him. He had distracted the beautiful diamond but continued strange behavior would cause problems. However he could not quite restrain the stab of fear that hit his gut as 'coal' Ran his hands down his suit. When nothing happened he relaxed again. There was not long to wait.

"It seems Drey is still unaware we are coming", Benji regarded the motionless dot. "Is there any way we can tell who else may be at that location", Brandt asked. "Sure there is, but if Markus is keeping tabs on the computer he may notice that I have instructed a satellite to look down upon them", Benji reminded him.

"Damn him being so bloody good with machines", Brandt swore loudly. "Yeah, about that", Benji remarked," are you sure you can counter Drey if he changes the virus. I have seen you with the computer and no offense but its not your strong point".

"It is when Drey is involved, Brandt found himself growling back."It was one of the things I prepared for coal". Benji put his hands up like a sheild, trying to stop Brandts anger washing over him. He was more unpredictable than Ethan and Benji was at times not to sure he could continue to deal with that. "Dammit I did it again", Brandts blue eyes now looked softer as he apologised. "I am sorry". Benji nodded looking over at him and taking stock of his injuries. With his firey attitude it was easy to forget that Brandt must be in alot of pain. Benji decided he should not aggrevate him again.

Nigel was about to challenge the sudden tension that had arisen when the ambulance violently lurched to the one side. Jane gripped Brandt hard to stop being thrown , hearing him take sharp intake from the pain caused by her hands.

Benji also gripped the sides of his bed hard. Nigel however had nothing to hold onto and found himself being thrown forward hard onto the ground.

The ambulance stopped lurching seconds later but he lay still for a second longer. "Are you hurt", beautiful diamond extended a hand toward him. He wrapped his fingers around hers and let himself be pulled up. Her touch was gentle warm and caring and for a moment he enjoyed how she made him feel.

Then he snapped back to his surroundings and looked over his body. He found he was not seriously hurt by the fall, though he would sport some serious bruises.

"What's going on up there", Jane yelled through the wall. "Sorry something on the road", Ethan's strained voice came back.

"You had better sit back….., Benjis voice broke off as he looked down at the floor of the ambulance.

Following his gaze Nigel saw the phone he had stolen lying there with the screen still active, oh shit he thought.

Benji patted his jacket down, "that's my phone", he stated. For one second everything went quiet, a type of menacing quiet that made beads of sweat break out on Nigels face. He could see the danger in Diamonds eyes as she recalled his earlier action. Now she approached him and before he could react grabbed him and growled ,"you took it and used that conversation to draw me off". It was like being confronted by a lioness, and Nigel found his throat now dry. She held him tightly and he found he could not get away. What was she going to do to him.

"Stop the ambulance", all of them froze at the intensity of Brandt's voice. It was amazing that he could have yelled that loud. Ethan immediately slammed on the brakes and they shook to a halt.

Within seconds Ethan and Luther were around the back throwing open the doors to see what was going on. "Blake stole Coals phone and used it", Brandt explained.

Jane and Benji already had Blake in a corner and were standing over him in an intimidating manner.

"What the hell where you thinking", Ethan yelled. "I thought we had an understanding".

Nigel put out his hands and dared to push Jane and Benji back, it was like trying to move a brick wall.

"Look all I did was contact my partner and tell him I was alive", he swore.

"Did you say where you were", Ethan demanded. "Yes, but I told him not to say anything. We have been partners for ten years guys I trust him implicitly " Nigel told them firmly.

Ethan said nothing. If he had been in Nigel's place he would have tried to contact a member of his team. But Nigel's actions may have just jeopardized everything. There was however nothing he could do about that now.

Benji was busy accessing the police departments computer and scrolling through the information present. "There is nothing about locating us in the database, so perhaps Blake's action have not had dire consequences", he told Ethan.

"I am still not taking any chances", Ethan stated. "This is the only road to our destination and thus it would be easy to try and stop us. Luther I need you to scout ahead and check the road."

The others quickly offloaded from the ambulance and watched as Luther drove it down the road.

Nigel did not bother asking what would happen if he did not return because he guessed spies should have an answer for everything.

He felt like he was most definitely not popular at the moment but did not particularly care. His actions had been out of a desire to help not hinder their mission. He was used to working with his partner and was sure he would be an asset to the team.

It was still a long ten minute wait with the gaze of the others all burning down upon him. If he had a spade he would be digging a big hole right now to put himself inside.

When the ambulance came into sight again he relaxed and felt like sticking out his tongue at the others and going"see no problem". It would be childish but he didn't care about that either.

Gold slipped out of the ambulance and one look at his face made Nigel feel like he definitely should have dug a hole. 'Theres a road block ahead of us, with 7 patrol cars and a large number of armed police man", Gold announced.

"Shit", Steel said it very loud. "They probably think you were under duress when you contacted them", Benji reflected. "Now they see us as the enemy who kidnapped their colleague. It might be kind of difficult to explain all this".

Ethan knew they could not use force on the police .But they also did not have time for lengthy explanations. He only had one option, "you are going to have to get us out of this one", he told Blake.

Nigel had not expected that Jason would bring half the department with him and finally felt a little ashamed. He was after all stopping the spies from bring down a very bad man. It was only right that he got them all out of this situation.

"Alright, I'll text Jason and I will meet him alone. If I explain to him then he'll make the others listen", Nigel told them.

"You had better make it good", Steel warned, "remember what is at stake here".

"I understand I made a mistake and I will fix it", Nigel swore. He texted Jason and asked him to meet him a few miles in front of the roadblock.

"Alright go", Ethan pointed to the ambulance.

Nigel climbed into the drivers seat and with one last look back at the spies waiting on the side of the road drove off.

It did not tak him long to reach the solitary patrol car that sat waiting for him. He could see straight away that Jason was all alone.

He got out of the ambulance and approached the car, Jason met him. "Look you shouldn't have brought the guys I am fine", nigel told him. Jason regarded him seriously "I am glad you are alright partner", he greeted reaching forward to shake his partners hand. Nigel felt comforted by the warm familar grip, it was nice to be back with someone whos behaviour was predictable. He pulled himself away from the feeling before he could get to comfortable ,he had important information to get across. "The people I am with are spies that are on our side they are undertaking a very important mission", he explained. "They took me to keep me safe from an enemy that is hacking into computer systems."

Jason bit his lip, "did they tell you to say that partner, are they threatening you with something". He looked about him anxiously.

"No, No", Nigel swore emphatically. "They are after a computer programmer who plans to sell a virus to enemies of our country". They convinced me it was in the best interests to help them. I need you to now convince the other officers to back off from the road block and let them pass".

Jason looked skeptical, "seriously', he muttered, "I don't think I can do that Nigel. These people have proved they are dangerous". 'How", Nigel countered, "they have not hurt me. It is this programmer Drey who is dangerous. They are tracking him right now and your actions in bringing in the others have stopped him being apprehended quickly", Nigel told him.

"They know where this guy is", Jason verified. "Yes, but if they tell anyone in the department he might find out they know. Our computer systems are compromised Jason. "It'll only get worse if this virus is sold. We need to help them", Nigel stated passionately.

"It's a good argument partner", Jason admitted. "It sounds like they really have convinced you to trust them". I suppose I should do the same." Nigel felt relief full him, "then you'll tell the others to back off", he asked. For a response Jason reached into his pocket . Nigel could see the top of a radio sticking out and guessed he was about to contact the others. This thought froze in his mind when he found himself with a gun pointing at him. He felt all his colour drain rapidly away, "what", he spluttered.

"I should trust them but I was paid not to", Jason told him."Paid", the word was horrible and he did not want to understand what Jason was doing. 'Yeah more money than I will ever see on my salary. All I have to do to get it is shoot you dead then injure myself and put the blame on your friends", Jason told him. "You could do that after ten years of being my partner ,of depending on each other", Nigel glared him down. Jason had shot many criminals but he would never ever shoot him.

"I could do it", the four little words almost paralysed him. How had this happened, was betrayal that easy. He had sufddenly fallen into the spies world and he did not like it one bit. "Your friends will find themselves facing a whole squad of police who I will convince to shoot at them. They will either had to fire back or die", Jason remarked coldly.

Nigel was speechless for a long moment as he stared down the barrel of the gun. He had trusted Jason with his life many times in the past and not been let down. It was the worst moment of his life to realize that trust was now gone and that it had been bought. His partner was a person he no longer recognised, he had crossed the line.

Nigel found wetness in his eyes and could only think of doing one thing, begging. "Please Jason if you ever valued our friendship don't do this. Put away the gun and I will forget it ever happened".

He doubted that was true but he had to make it sound like it was. He stared at his partner unflinching having the deep inner thought that no way he would ever fire.

Jason hardened his finger on the trigger. He could not let sentiment shake him. Nigel had never known about the much younger woman he was dating. With the money he 'd get he could offer her a life of luxury. Whatever Nigel said he could see in his eyes clearly that he would never trust him again. That made it alot easier to say, "our friendship is over Nigel".

Seconds later Nigel heard the shot.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15- PART 1 -checkmate

Time froze for asecond as Nigel expected a bullet to rip through his chest. The lack of friendship in his partners eyes was going to be the last thing he ever saw. But he would not close his eyes and make it easier for Jason. He stood waiting for the moment when he'd collapse onto the ground and never see or feel anything more. When Jasons legs were the ones that folded and a red bloom spouted on his shoulder he was for a moment shaken. Hearing a clearing throat noise behind he turned to see Steel with a gun in his hand. "You really don't trust anyone do you", the anger a he held inside now erupted out at any target, even though he was very grateful that Steel was there."It was not you I did not trust Blake. There was always a chance that someone in the police department was on Dreys payroll. That way he could control what happened more effectively." Ethan had clung to the bottom of the ambulance shielding his presence from Nigel and anyone else. He had watched the exchange between Nigel and his partner and thus been on hand to stop Nigel getting shot. Now Jason lay on the ground clutching his shoulder and moaning. "If I wanted you dead, you would be dead", Ethan stood over him and pointed his gun in his face. Nigel came alongside and kicked hard in the stomach Jason with his foot. It was a small satisfaction when he moaned. "How does it feel now partner", he asked sarcastically. Jason cast his eyes sideways looking anywhere but his partner. "Now you look away you bastard", Nigel kicked him again a little harder. "Let me have the gun now Steel", he requested angrily. Jason actually shivered when he heard that. Sorry but you are better than that Blake", Ethan told him firmly. "Plus we need him alive and able to talk".

"I am not telling you one damn thing", Jason swore as he clung to the only control he could now have. "You don't need to tell us you work for Drey, that is obvious from your actions",Ethan retorted. "But you are going to convince your colleagues to let us pass".

"No", Jason closed his eyes blocking out the spy from his had rapidly gotten out of control. The simple plan he had been convinced would work had gone wrong on him, but he was not beaten yet. He was determined to say nothing.

Nigel laughed a little as he looked his partner in the face, "don't you realize what Steel can do people". He will have you screaming in seconds. Can I watch while you convince him Steel", Nigel looked over at Ethan. Ethan could see it was only anger making Blake act like that, deep down he did not want to see his partner tortured. But he also knew that what he suggested might actually have to happen. But Ethan did not want to do that yet. For the moment he would make it an act , "you should step away Blake, I don't think you will like it very much" ,he told the detective firmly. He placed one hand his pocket for effect like he was searching for something nasty to use on Lyall. In his hand was a cork screw and he took it out and examined it lovingly while looking over at Jasons leg with malice on his face. Ethan knew he would be totally believeable because Nigel was actually looking worried.

Jason looked into the spys face, this man was not like his partner. Nigel had a soft sentimental spot that sometimes interfered with his work. This spy could use many methods to convince him to help and probably not even leave a mark. Or possibly he would not care about disfigurement and go with sticking that horrible thing into parts of his body. Was any amount of money worth that. Would his young mistress want him if he was disfigured. Jason was now firmly in self preservation mode. The man who had paid him for this was miles away ,safe and warm and probably already rich. Dammit what was he going to do.

Ethan had watched Jasons face and sensed the inner battle he was going through as he decided what to do next. Although he had no weapon he could delay them long enough for Makrus to conclude his sale. But perhaps he had not considered what would happen after he stalled them. How did he plan to get away. Maybe he needed a reminder of exactly how things stood.

Ethan pulled the trigger and fired at the ground inches away from Jason watching him flinch. 'You have already lost detective, but how big you lose is up to you. Even though you are not the one we want I will not hesitate to take you out to achieve our goal. Nigel can convince the other officers to trust us. So we don't really need you Lyall. My last question to you is this is dying for Drey really part of your plan because if it is then you really are a fool".

"Damn you", Jason grunted out forcefully as he glared at Ethan. He really wanted to hold out but knew he had nothing left to fight with. Jason could not use the name of the man responsible as a bargaining chip because they already knew that. He could also not use a location as he simply did not know where Drey was and knew he'd give up that fact one second into any type of torture. Helping them was the only way he was actually going to survive this. "Damn you", he said again, this time with less force.

It sounded like he was digging in for a long negotiation to Nigel. But Ethan recognized from the tone of his voice that he had recognized defeat. "He hates the idea of helping but he's going to do it", Ethan told Nigel. Jason Lyall did recognize defeat and it left a very sour taste. But he was at this moment still alive and that meant something. He had no doubt the spy would shoot him.

"Here I think I can now trust you with this", Ethan pulled out a second weapon from under his shirt and handed it to Blake.

Jason swallowed visibly as his partner turned the gun upon him. He had not thought the his partner could feel enough malice to actually cross the line and shoot him dead. Now he was beginning to doubt that.

"Get up", Nigel shouted at his still felt incredibly angry and burned to actually shoot his partner. He had never thought he would feel like that. But he also recognized that he even though he felt like shooting he would not do it. Steel was right he was above doing that. He also knew it would mean they had lost and could not make use of Jason.

When Jason showed no signs of moving he did move the gun closer and yell louder, "I said get up".

Gritting his teeth Jason hauled himself to his feet. "So we just take him to the road block and he tells them about his betrayal", Nigel confirmed to Ethan. "No we Blake, you. Time is slipping away from us and when Drey does not hear from this one he will realize something had gone wrong."

"What if we convince him to send a message saying he was successful", Nigel countered. Ethan restrained a smile thinking that for a moment Blake sounded like a spy. 'I am not sure if we can trust him enough not to warn Drey somehow", Ethan stated.

"Yeah trust is something he has forgotten easily", Nigel agreed sadly. He still felt rather hollow inside like something important was now missing. His life as a detective would be very different from this moment forward.

"Don't let it change you Blake", Ethan saw something familiar in the detectives eyes. He knew how he'd felt the first time he'd been betrayed by a colleague. Nigel thought it was an easy thing to say but he could also see that the spy understood all too well what it was like to be betrayed. "The man who is selling the virus is one of our own", Ethan told him . "I can not deny that it becomes more personal because of that. But we still have to believe in trust. If you lose it all together you won't even be able to function in life and definitely not in your job."

It was the most personal speech Nigel had heard yet. It made the spy in front of him seem more human. He closed his eyes for one second and allowed himself to fantasize for one minute that this had never happened. Then he opened them again and went back to a reality where he now had to take his own partner into custody. He turned back to 'Steel' and held out his hand. "I will try to take what you said on board and continue to do my job", he told him. "Give me about 20 minutes to sort this all out then bring the ambulance through the road block".

"Agreed", Ethan made sure he put all his trust and hope into that word. He could see that Blake had learnt a valuable lesson. He held out his hand and took Blakes hand into his own his own. It was the moment when Blake knew you were supposed to say, "it was nice meeting you". However all it had been was rather traumatic. Rather than say something he knew the spy would sense was a lie he just said two simple words putting all the depth of his feeling into them, "good luck".

Then Nigel pushed his partner forward and with him held steadily at gun point walked away without looking back.

He had been walking for 5 minutes when Jason suggested, "I'll split the money with you if you say it was the spy who shot me". Away from the spy's influence Jason was sure he could still convince his partner to help him.

He was wrong as Nigel just shoved him rather hard and growled, "shut up Jason". Nigel even pointed the gun harder into his back to make his point . Looking back into Nigels eyes Jason saw danger and realized that he should not push his former partner to hard. All the sentimentality he had possessed was now gone. He realized he was to blame for that. His partner had changed forever. That actually hurt him more than he thought it should. Afterall he would have shot his partner to get that money. But maybe if he thought about it really hard he realized he would not have walked away without regret.

As the road block came into sight the reality that he was going to jail hit him rather hard. He stumbled feeling the pain in his shoulder spike in intensity. When he thought about who to blame for this Markus Drey sprung into his mind at first. Then he relaised that he only had himself to blame. That was more painful than the bullet wound. He began to feel rather sick as the enormity of his betrayal finally sunk in. The only way to feel better was to confess all and hope that Markus Drey was the one who paid the biggest cost.

Even though Ethan had trusted Nigel Blake he still took the precaution of bugging him. He'd had feeling his partner may try something. The offer of money was not all that surprising as was Blakes refusal. Ethan had recognized the deep honor within the detective and known it could not be shaken. It was that honor that had prompted him to contact his partner in the first place.

Now that honor sprung to again as Blake defended the actions of his team with a speech worthy of an award. Jason helped out the performance by a tearful plea for mercy while laying blame on Dreys doorstep. The other officers agreed to stand by to help if needed while agreeing to stay off their computers for a few hours.

When "you can proceed through the roadblock" was phoned through Ethan knew it was finally time to go and get Markus Drey.

Ethan looked back at his team and knew they may face the biggest challenge of their careers in bringing down Drey. They had no idea how many potential buyers were with Drey but Ethan guessed it'd be a few. They had to be careful with how they used the computer in case Drey detected their actions. He knew Drey was clever and would have made any rendevous point a fortress. They should be going into this armed to the teeth with dozens of agents. All he had was a small team. Concluding this mission was vital to the ongoing survival of the IMF and if neccessary he and the others would have to sacrifice their lives to achieve that goal. For the very first time in a long time Ethan felt fear rise up into him as he realized there might not be any other way to put an end to this mission.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15 part 2

Ethan looked through the binoculars at the location Drey had chosen for his meeting. He restrained an urge to swear loudly ,he'd been doing too much of that lately. "Well he is a brilliant man so we could hardly expect him to make a mistake when choosing a rendezvous point for the sale", Benji pointed out." Yeah",Ethan acknowledged softly the while still searching the location and hoping that just maybe Benji was wrong. "The name they give this place suits it well", Jane reflected.

It sat boldly on top of a rise, its size meant it deserve the title Castle but unlike those old stone edifices it was unique in that it was completely made out of glass, inside and out. Its position upon the rise afforded anyone inside a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape. In the light of the early morning that landscape was stunning . Everything around the home had been designed with luxury in mind and only gave access to those who could afford the most expensive forms of transportation. There was a large flat area next to the castle for parking but not by cars ,several helicopters sat there awaiting their absent owners. On one side the castle perched close to the cliff where below a cove gave access by boat. The steepness of the terrain and the lack of a road up to the castle made approach by a vehicle impossible.

The home cemented its likeness to a castle by having its own version of a defensive moat . But it was not water ,instead a large area of very short grass spread out for miles. Nobody would be able to approach without being seen . It was the perfect fortress and try as he might at the moment Ethan could not see any flaw in the design that would get them close without tipping off those inside

Right now they were hiding in the only cover for miles what was left of the forst the former owner of the castle had felled to make the clearing.

"The glastle as the papers referred to it, was once owned by millionaire Reese Deane. But it has stood empty for nearly two years while the owner and the builder went through a legal dispute over payment" Benji told Ethan as he checked the information on his smart phone. 'I remember him, very showy man always throwing money about. He had to have the best of anything obviously though he couldn't pay for that type of lifestyle", Jane mused.

"Yeah I can see how well he thought about keeping people out ,must have known that sooner or later creditors would come calling. But his personal traits don't help us much", Luther decided. Benji had been counting the boats and helicopters. "There are potentially about 30 people up in that castle with Drey, perhaps more", he told Ethan. "He could have set up meetings with overseas buyers before he initated this plan. His computer expertise made that sort of betrayal easy to hide. That expertise is also why I thought he'd just sell the virus and firewall online."

"It is all part of Drey's plan, sure a face to face meeting has its risks but it also provides some security for him. You can count on the fact not one of those people would be on our side. " Drey is smart enough to set up the conditions of the meeting to ensure his safety. Not one of those buyers want to risk Drey unleashing that virus upon their own systems so they will play by any rules he set", Ethan told him

"Yeah I suppose that knowledge could work against him as who'd risk an online meeting with a guy who can manipulate computer data", Benji added.

Ethan was still staring at the gastle thinking rapidly. He knew that as team leader it was his job to come up with a plan to get inside. It should be something mind blowing that nobody else would ever think of. That would be the only way Markus would be taken by surprise. He hoped whatever that was it would come to mind soon .

"Wine", the word slipped from Janes lips and they all turned to her. She flushed, "sorry I was not thinking I wanted one, just about Reese Deane and his taste for the best. I remember Trevor taking me to one of his parties", her eyes took on a far away look remembering that day. It was a pleasant memory even though thinking of Trevor still made a pain shoot through her gut. She pulled away from thinking about him and concentrated on the information."The cheapest bottle of wine at that party was 500 dollars and all of it came from his private supply".

Ethan was staring wondering why Jane was rambling on about alcohol, he was about to tell her to stop when she finally got to the point.

"He told us that he kept it in his cellar which supposed to be in a natural cave below the gastle .It is set just above the water line with the natural sea air to help age the wine. That's what Deane reckoned anyway. I can't imagine a guy like Deane who wanted to cement a well off image of himself walking all the way down to the cove to get his wine."

Ethan smiled, "there must be access from the cellar up into the house, possibly this would be something Drey would not know." Finally they had a way in and his mood lifted.

They returned to the hidden ambulance they had parked beneath the trees. Brandt lifted his head off the pillow when he heard them. It was even an effort to do that much now, though when he spoke his voice still carried a deep passion.

"Well did you find a way in", he asked. "Yeah Jane remembers about the wine cellar situated in the caves in that cove", Benji told him. Brandt looked over at Ethan, "so you think it is possibly a way in that Drey has overlooked. He would not do that Ethan" Let me think of something else". His voice carried absolute certainty over the first part and the last had a steely quality that almost felt like an order. He gave Ethan the 'look', Ethan stared back, and soon the two were locked in a silent staring match, neither looking away. Brandt was determined to let Ethan know he thought he was right. Ethan was just determined, but not to prove he was right. He accepted the fact that perhaps Drey did know about the cellar and had dangled it like some bait ready to catch them. But he needed Brandt to understand he was not in charge and hoped to stare the younger agent down. It wasn't working very well though.

Benji didn't see that either one would back down so checked some information on his smart phone. After consulting what it said he came to the conclusion Brandt was to tell his team leader that." I'm afraid it looks like Drey did think of everything. 'Its high tide Ethan, those caves will be flooded with water."There is no way in."

Ethan swallowed then nodded at Brandt in silent acceptance of the fact he had been right. But that did not mean he was letting him plan another way in. He had been hoping for a lucky break because he knew that this time undertaking the impossible not only rested upon him but all the team. He was used to taking sole responsibility for his own safety during crazy stunts. Others could just take your mind of what you were doing in a situation where one slip could be fatal. He said nothing of his thoughts to the others his mind was already thinking up something and it was definitely going to be difficult.

Benji knew the look and felt his heart beat speed up, Ethan was planning something crazy. He caught the eye of Luther and Jane who nodded at him as if saying, "I bet this one is going to be good" . Brandt saw that look as well and acknowledged to himself that Ethan had a skill he did not quite possess, to think up the extraordinary.

Ethan took a breath ready to tell them the plan. He was sure someone would object .""It is still our best way in as Drey would not expect that would could gain access".Okay water was by far the scariest thing in Benjis book and that prompted him to make a sarcastic comment, "alright I'll just nip down to the nearest dive shop and get us the equipment, . He knew there was no dive shop, in fact there were no shops of any kind near the castle. But he also knew that the amount of water in those caves would make it necessary to go beneath the water. With the strong current it would be extremely dangerous and was hoping to put Ethan off the whole idea.

Ethan gave him a sour look, not discouraged at all, his plan remained firmly fixed in his mind . He pointed across the ambulance toward the tanks that were secured against the wall.

"Oxygen tanks", Luther observed, "and enough for one each, they would solve the problem of breathing underwater. We could just each take one and breathe through the valve".

"Its still totally mad", Benji told him shakily his mind filled with images of being crushed by the power of the waves that pounded into the caves. 'I like it and only wish I could come", Brandt told him seriously. He knew his injuries prohibited him from even trying to go into that water and was disappointed. Benji turned his scowl upon Brandt, "so says the man who had to be yelled at before he jumped into that fan vent".

Brandt grimaced remembering his fear," I know but I'd do it in a heartbeat if it meant I could get Drey".

On analyzing the looks on Luther and Janes face Ethan saw they were eager to give it a try. He knew both of them had dived before. That only left Benji who right now looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

It was time for a firm pep talk. 'You can do it Benji, it is something you trained for. Just think about something pleasant and go for it". Ethan shut his mouth again surprised that Brandt had been the one to offer Benji assurance. But then maybe he was still trying to make up for holding him at gun point.

Benji knew Brandt was correct about the training part. IMF thought of everything they could when preparing their agents for the field. You only got one chance to pass the field exam . This was because on missions one mistake could be the thing that either blew the mission or killed you. He had spent many months preparing himself before taking the test. One day he knew he might be challenged like this. So why be so afraid. There was no way Ethan was going to change his mind, so he better just get on with it. His eyes met Brandt and the other man gave him a small thumbs up gesture that conveyed his trust in Benji. At that point Benji forgave Brandt for holding him at gunpoint and acknowledged that none of them were perfect. But they did make the perfect team and he was not letting the side down.

Pushing down the fear Benji nodded. "Right that's settled", Ethan remarked mildly not referring to Benjis lapse. Brandt you have to keep watch on the IMF site and be prepared to act if Drey drops that firewall", Ethan told him.

"I know, Brandt replied.

Brandt took a breath, he was now going to ask Ethan something important. Of course he had worked out exactly how to go about this question but he did not know what the response would be. "Since I am going to be all alone and are not in the best shape I will need a weapon to defend myself."This was the only way he knew he could get a gun. It was not something he had to make up or lie about just the plain truth.

Ethan knew Brandt had provided the perfect reason and he hated the fact that he'd have to give in because he was totally right. He just knew Brandt was planning some sort of action against Drey. But he was hardly in any condition to walk into that Gastle. But Ethan still had to say firmly, "stay here Brandt, that's an order."He waited for a comment of sarcasm or anger but all he got was a resigned, "alright, I know when I need to stay put". That made him feel suspicious initially but taking another good look at Brandt he could see that his condition made it impossible to take any physical action. That was why he was fighting with words. Or at least he hoped so because there was still a look in Brandts eye that he could not interpret.

Giving him one last glare for good measure Ethan turned back to the others. "Gather up the tanks and lets get going".

They trekked through the tree line hauling the tanks with them. Walking through the small forest was cool but Benji could still feel the sweat that was beading on his forehead, it was either the effort of carrying the oxygen tank or the thought of the water. The tree line soon broke at the edgeof the cliff and they could look down at the cliffs below and see the holes that were the natural openings. "Theres more than one cave Ethan",Benji observed hoping that might put Ethan off the plan. "Yes but the others look smaller and not passable, I'd say its that one", Ethan responded confidently pointing to the largest cave. As he did so a large wave rolled up and pounded into the cave spraying water upward. "Those waves are powerful Ethan we are going to have to time our entry to avoid them", Luther observed as he watched pieces of rock go flying from the force of the waves smack.

"Right lets get down there", Ethan slung the oxygen onto his back and secured it with a roll of bandages he had taken from the ambulance. They had been fortunate that that ambulance was the one used for serious crashes and was well stocked with surgical supplies.

The others all mirrored Ethans actions feeling the weight of the tank on their backs. Now they had to climb down the cliff face toward the caves making sure the extra weight did not over balance them.

Ethan went first, climbing down nimbly and quickly. Jane followed after, a little slower but just as sure in her footing. Benji let Luther go next then finally followed. He could feel his back muscles protest at the weight of the tank and his body felt like it wanted to topple backward. He dug his fingers into the rock face hard, almost clawing a hole. His eyes were trained firmly on his pathway downward as he followed the others.

By the time the got to the rocks below he was puffing and sweating heavily. It was annoying to note none of the others were nearly as bad. Bneji decided to begin a new exercise regime once this mission was over.

They hugged the edge of the cliffs as much as possible but still got soaked as the waves splashed across the rocks and over them. At least the sweat got washed away was Benji's thought as the cave loamed closer. The water was high up the cave opening but at the moment was calm and serene ,glistening in the sun.

A large wave rolled up and crashed and pounded into the cave opening minutes later. Anyone entering at that moment would have been pounded against rocks by the force of the water. Ethan looked at his watch and waited until the next wave rolled up. Now he knew roughly how long they had to get inside and to the relative safety of the cave walls.

"Alright everyone, we will use the buddy system, I'll stay with Jane, Luther you take Benji. We climb into the water then dive below into the cave. Once you get inside make you way to the sides."

He unlashed the oxygen tank and placed the outlet over his mouth then with Jane at his side he slid into the water and dived down.

It did not seem long enough when Luther prodded Benji and stated "our turn". Benji did not protest just readying the oxygen tank then slipping into the water. They had no wet suits to protect them from the chill of the water and he could feel it leach through his body and threaten to slow him down. It was time to get moving ,placing the tank outlet into his mouth he dived below the water.

It was hard to see a thing down there ,but all he had to do was follow Luther's legs. The other man swam effortlessly like some sort of fish and Benji felt envious, his own swimming felt awkward and it was an effort to keep the tank in his mouth.

He kept swimming forward. When he felt the water draw back from him, he knew time was running short, another wave was building.

Using every bit of strength he possessed he sped up his strokes. The light around him changed and he felt relief that he had entered the cave. But the pull of the water outward was stronger now meaning he had to work harder.

He felt his body drift backward again as the current pulled him. Panic began to set in as he realized his arms could not stroke harder. His body stilled, but before he could be dragged out a hand reached down and steadied him then pulled him upward.

Breaking the surface he hurriedly pulled himself upward onto a small shelf of rock that ran around part of the inside of the cave . He turned to face the wall just in time, as the huge wave broke past him showering him with spray.

Ethan's hand wrapped around and gave him a reassuring squeeze, Benji knew it had been him who pulled him out. He felt guilty that Ethan had to save him but looking into Ethan's eyes he only saw regret.  
"Sorry Benji that wave came earlier than I expected", Ethan apologized. Benji noted he was a little pale and realized that hard as nails Ethan Hunt had actually been afraid for his safety. Benji did not blame Ethan for the error as how could anyone control nature, he was just glad Ethan had been there. He gave his shoulder a squeeze in acknowledgement.

Now they were on safe ground again they searched for the opening to the wine cellar. It was just above their heads. The side of the cliff face by the opening was totally smoothed down from the force of the waves beating against it over years. At low tide the smoothness would make scaling it to reach the tunnel above practically impossible. Their shelf did not reach all the way to the tunnel opening with a sizeavle gap between the two. They could not jump over.

But because it was high tide Ethan noted that between waves the water swelled up close to the opening. They would have to time it right but they should be able to jump into the tunnel. However to do it effectively they would have to remove the heavy tanks from their backs. Falling back into the water without the tank could be fatal so each person only had one chance to get the jump right.

He had hoped the hard part was over but obviously it was not.

Brandt lay on the bed in the ambulance staring at the laptop screen and noting the firewall was still active.

By lifting his head a little higher he could see out of the ambulance doors which had been left open so he could see anyone coming.

Reaching one arm down he undid the breaks on the stretcher bed.

The bed slowly rolled backward and Brandt helped it along by moving his body.

Soon the bed was outside the ambulance. Brandt undid the rest of the straps then lowered the legs of the bed down lower to the ground. He did not attempt to get out of the bed as he knew the main part of his body would no longer respond. His arms were still useful though and he used them to propel the bed like a wheelchair to the edge of the treeline.

All he wanted to do was stare up at the castle and imagine he was there with Ethan and the team helping them catch Drey. He had already thought up a dozen ways he would punish the programmer and none of them were pretty. It was all imaginary because right now he was looking at a fortress whose defenses had been carefully probed by Ethan himself.

As he stared across the grass Brandts heartbeat began to pick up and he changed his mind about one important fact. He had believed that only Ethan could think up something crazy but perhaps he had underestimated his own ability. William Brandt had just figured out a way into the castle. Perhaps Ethan had dismissed it as a possibility because it would not work for more than one person.

A passion to enter the castle and deal with Drey himself rose up, he would have no hestitation in disobeying Ethans order to stay there. Unfortunately though seriously considering what he had to do left him with the conclusion that he could not undertake the challenge in his injured state. One mistake and he'd get caught. He was not going to be the person that let the team down. Brandt let himself feel disappointment before turning his gaze back to the computer. His breath gasped out as he realised something had changed on the IMF site.

The white rabbits countdown clock had stopped. It was a warning that Drey was imputting a code to lower the firewall and initiate the virus. Thoughts of betraying his team came rushing back as he realized he now faced an awful choice.

Stopping the virus would tip off Markus Drey that he had been played and that IMF were onto him. His logical conclusion from that would be an assumption that Ethan was close by. Drey would never deal with him personally but would unleash his buyers upon the team. As Ethan had put it , not one of them would be on their side and the team would find themselves outnumbered.

But if he did not stop the virus the entire IMF would fall and all of them would be compromised anyway. Brandt swallowed hard and admitted to himself that if Ethan and the others died while he survived he would never be able to return to active duty within IMF. He would see this as a betrayal and worse than what had happened in Croatia.

A tear formed in his eye, despite his disagreements he had become close to Ethan and the others. He had swore to himself that would never happen, but it had. Now he was about to put all the team at risk.

"Sorry Ethan", Brandt announced as his fingers began to dance over the keyboard as he countered Drey's commands.


	17. Chapter 17

Note: Thanks to everyone for support on this story. It has not always been easy to write and work out a complex plot. But finally here is the last chapter.

Chapter 16- testing the defenses

In a secured room in the Gastle Markus Drey grinned as the auction for the firewall reached its conclusion. He was very satisfied with the amount he had received and had decided it was time to move onto the main event, the destruction of IMF.

It was about time that the agency received its death blow and he felt guiltless over the fact it would come from him. He thought all spies were arrogant with inflated opinions of themselves. The best and brightest of the lot had always been Ethan Hunt. But where was he now, somewhere far away and totally clueless.

His smile widened, Hunt's career was about to come to an end and he would be responsible. It felt incredible to feel so powerful. He turned his gaze back to his laptop where a line of script was appearing.

"I want the names of all IMF agents", his top buyer had tapped in over his own keyboard. This was how they protected their identities from each other , concealing themselves in private rooms with one way glass and communicating only via non networked computers. Each room had a time lock that would only let the person leave at a set time. The timing mechanisms were not able to be overrode by the people inside. The buyers here today felt safe and secure that their real identities would remain hidden from him and each other. He did not care who they were as long as they paid him. But he did know that all of them were enemies of the US and that fact did not bother him in the slightest. For a second he wondered about his lack of a conscience then his mind moved past what he was doing to focus on the money.

As a precaution he had Xander prowling the corridors between the rooms with a semi automatic. Anyone breaking the rules was going to be shot on sight.

He felt confident that last stipulation would control anyone who had the urge to betray him and try and steal the computer virus.

"Alright I'll now start the bidding for the names of all IMF agents", Markus announced viahis laptop. Soon numbers appeared on his screen as the auction got underway. Right away he noted that his top buyer wanted the auction to end fast, the amount jumped from 10 million to 50 in 2 seconds. Whoever he was, he must really hate IMF . That was obviously something they had in common.

Another buyer countered that amount but his top buyer came back with another amount and Markus blinked as if trying to clear something from his eye. Surely he was not seeing the amount he thought he was.

He was probably going to be the richest person in the world after this.

When nobody else made another bid Markus accepted the amount and arranged for the immediate transfer of the money. "I want the names now", the buyer was typing. Markus danced his fingers over his laptop entering the command to lower the firewall. He demanded that the names of all IMF agents be yielded up at the same time.

In the ambulance a short distance from the castle William Brandt felt sweat begin to pool on his fingers and on his brow as his fingers danced across the keyboard. He might not be with Ethan and the others but he could still fight this battle. It was a fight he could not afford to lose. Benji had been right when saying computers were not his strong point. But he did share something in common with Markus Drey, his clever mind. Brandt had always been good at remembering facts and using that knowledge to work up plans. When he had tried to resign after his failure in Croatia it was this skill that had the secretary suggesting a very different line of work. One of the other programmers had spent hours coaching him for this mission and had been impressed by his ability to retain knowledge. It had still taken him awhile to memorize everything required of him. Now he put it into play as he countered the command to yield up IMF agents. He began to grin as he thought of a perfect way to frustrate Drey, making up stupid names of his own.

His main goal in this was not only to stop the virus but also to stall Markus long enough to given Ethan and the others time to infiltrate the castle.

"Santa Claus, Tooth fairy, Mickey Mouse, the incredible Hulk, " Markus's mouth had gone suddenly dry as he saw the names scroll across the screen.

"What is this", the buyer was demanding. Markus wanted to know as well, he entered another code and this time noted that someone else appeared to be countering what he was doing. There was no way that was possible, he had planned this whole thing very carefully with a skillfulness no one else possessed. He hit the keyboard a lttle harder this time, inputting a more complex code.

Brandt swallowed for a instant as all the knowledge in his head slipped away. Shaking himself firmly he willed it back into his mind then began to type in the counter code. It was time for more silly names plus to let Drey know exactly who was fighting against him. He knew it would a major cause of distress to Drey that he was still alive and had played him for a fool. Maybe that would shake the cocky programmer and he would make an error. Brandt smiled wider

"Donald Duck, Spiderman, Shrek, more stupid names crossed the screen. Then a picture appeared and Markus found himself slamming his fist onto the laptop.

A chameleon who changed colour from green to brown and back again strolled across the screen, written boldly across his middle was 'the jokes on you".

Markus found himself raising his hand to the cut on his face Brandt had caused. Obviously the agent was still very much alive and had been playing an elaborate game with him.

"Damn you how did you do this", Markus swore loudly , he felt every part of his body clench and it was almost painful. No matter how hard he thought he could not see how Brandt had managed another deceit . What had happened to his feelings of brilliance and superiority. It seemed like it was fading. He calmed himself in seconds and sent a reassuring sentence back to his buyer. "Alright Brandt ,he growled, you are just a stupid analyst who really was an agent, you cannot outwit me".

He decided the perfect way to put an end to Brandt was to let the buyer have all the names of the agents he personally knew. His fingers skipped over the keyboard as he typed in Ethan Hunts name first. That should prove who really was in charge.

Brandt knew exactly what to do about this and used a command to permanently link to Markus's stupid name file for agents. This was new code unknown to Drey and something he could not counter. No matter what he enter he'd get back a senseless reply. Boy this made him feel a little better, though of course he still wanted to have the satisfaction of smacking Drey hard.

Drey tried to send Hunts name to the buyer but it changed to Superman and nothing Markus could do would change it back. He did not have direct voice contact with any of his buyers, another safety feature which unfortunately was now acting against him. A howl of frustration that he had been trying to suppress burst out between his teeth.

He guessed one of the other programmers had been coaching Brandt and had done an excellent job. Brandt's skill as an analyst obviously also helped him. But he was not beaten yet. His fingers danced over the keyboard again and he ground his teeth together hard. This code was complex and beyond poor old Brandts puny mind, he had just about finished and was about to activate the new code when something caught his eye. The computer was revealing the location of Brandts commands. It was almost on top of the Gastle.

Markus stopped in the act of entering the final code as he realized Brandt was stalling him. His inflated thoughts of before felt abruptly punctured and he realized he had been too arrogant and that had almost cost him everything. He had described Hunt a superman in his files and viewed him as capable of almost everything. So even though he had thought there was no way into this castle he could guarantee that if Brandt was close by then so were Hunt and the others. For a moment his hot anger warred with self preservation, he desperately needed to prove that no mere agent could outwit him. Yet he already had more money that he had ever dreamed was possible and Brandt would never come close to earning that amount. Getting caught or dying would not prove that he was the greatest. But getting away probably would.

He could always put an end to IMF another time with a more powerful virus. It was now time to put his escape plan into action.

His main buyer was getting twitchy, demanding the codes and declaring reprisals if Markus had ripped him off .He knew the perfect way to turn his anger toward another target. "Agents have infiltrated the castle and intercepted the real codes, stop them and I'll refund your money", was typed to his top buyer. He sent a similar message to the other buyers offering them a share of his millions if they helped him out.

There perfect, Hunt would find himself in the middle of a battle while he walked away. His mind stilled for a moment as he realized he had not included Xander in his plans. That made him wonder if he really had considered Xander a friend or had been just using him all the time. He had found the other man to be surprisingly vulnerable for an agent and easy enough to lead astray. Markus believed that Xander really regarded him as a friend and would be unprepared for a betrayal on his part. Briefly he felt a little guilty then pressed it down, there was no room in this to suddenly develop a conscience now. He knew he could not physically defeat anyone in this castle but his mind was still very much his best weapon. His preparatiion for this mission has included a thorough study of the castle and he knew there was only one spot that had any weakness. The wine cellar below in the caves was probably passable at high tide for someone as crazy as Hunt. So he knew exactly where to send his army and Xander was the perfect general to lead the charge. But he was not the type to put himself in danger unless he had a lot of persuasion or if he simply told him a big fat lie. He knew that Xander would most likely be killed by either Hunt and his team or the angry buyers. There was no guilt left about that.

Now all he had to do was play one final role and make it his most convincing. He stretched himself up plastered a smile on his face and walked out of the room. He called over Xander and told him , "it's all over we are very rich men and IMF is no more", it sounded so convincing because he desperately wanted it to be true. "Why don't we celebrate now, while the buyers leave pop down to the cellar and grab us the best bottle of wine", he kept the fake smile plastered on his face.

Xander grabbed his hand and shook it warmly, "great, we win the day, I'll be back soon with that wine."

Markus watched him walk toward the cellar then moved in the opposite direction. He returned to his room and left a command to open all the buyers doors in 5 minutes telling them where the infiltrators were coming from .

His next sentence revealed the location of a hidden stash of weapons. The battle arranged Markus Drey strolled calmly toward the door of the castle.

Xxxxxxxxx

Brandt felt now relief as the keyboard battle ended and he won. Then his thoughts changed as he realized that it had been too easy. He was sure Drey had realized he was being stalled and had taken some sort of action. As yet there had not been any sound of gun fire, but perhaps that was still to come

Ethan had left him the binoculars and he used them to focus on the castle. He could see all possible exits and began to think about which one Markus may use. He knew a few facts about the programmer that would come in useful. One was that he hated flying and thought helicopters were death traps. Though that fact might not put him off there was the slight issue that neither Drey or Xander could fly a helicopter. They'd have to risk taking a buyer with them as a pilot and that would simply not work in with their plans. So he'd pick that Drey would use a boat, it'd be easier to just zoom out to sea and lose yourself.

So all he had to do was think of a way to stop Drey. Yeah right Brandt he told himself drag your broken body down to the cove and dismantle all the boats.

He gritted his teeth in frustration staring back at his most effective weapon so far, the laptop. "Oh I am an idiot", he muttered to himself as he realized one obvious fact.

A loud gun shot broke his concentration for a second, the battle up in the castle had begun.

It was time for him to take further action.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

5 minutes earlier

Xander had opened the large steel door leading down to the cellar and stepped into the chill of the tunnel before something important sprung into his mind, Markus's hands had not felt right. His friend had looked calm and his voice was sincere yet as he had clasped his hand in his own he could feel the sweat upon them.

He knew it could not be over the sales as Markus had meticulously planned out everything and felt confident tht he could handle any problems.

A slight noise ahead of him had him freezing in place . Listening carefully he could just make out footsteps from further along in the tunnel.

He knew there was only one group of people crazy enough to try an entry at high tide, IMF. Xander sunk to the ground as the shock of betrayal ripped through him.

He had liked Markus and clung to his friendship like a barnacle on rock. That had been because of his feelings toward IMF. Xander had never told Markus Drey the whole truth, in fact even IMF did not know that truth. Although an injury had ended his career as an active agent that injury had happened because he had lost his nerve. He had just stood there while a hostile had shot his team leader frozen at the wrong time because the enemy was a beautiful woman. She had escaped after shooting him. What happened next was forever engraved on his brain. His team leader was still breathing and conscious his wound was serious but if he got immediate help he would survive. Xander went to help the man and dealt with his hot anger, "you froze, you're finished Xander ,you will never work for IMF again."He had bent over the man intending to help but found himself shooting him through the head instead.

He had hoped that would save his career as an agent, but it had not , his injury had been more severe than he had realized. With his loss of agent status came a shift in his usefulness to IMF . That caused his feelings of guilt over killing his team leader to build up into a hatred for the people to whom he had once been loyal. It had been so easy to cross the line and play a part of being an active agent in someone else's mission. He had been certain Drey's plan would work and he would not have to do anything that required a lot of courage.

Now he stood in a tunnel realizing the best team in IMF were in front of him . Turning his head he heard another sound coming from the direction of the castle, running footsteps. Markus had unleashed the buyers and they were probably not in a good mood. How would they know he was on their side, or would they even care just shooting anybody that stood in their way. He had a weapon in his hand but admitted to himself that maybe he might just freeze before he could fire a shot. They would not make the same mistake.

How had it come to this, sorrow filled him. Why had his guilt turned his mind to betrayal instead of redemption. He knew the price he would have had to pay for murder of a fellow agent would have been high and he had not been brave enough to experience the consequences. Instead he had just run into the arms of another betrayer. He supposed that justice had now come full circle and he was about to finally pay the price.

Xander decided surrender to IMF was preferable to death from the buyers . He took another step toward the tunnel leading to the cellar then stopped as his conscience told him something quite firmly, it was time for a change.

He shut the heavy iron door firmly behind him and ran straight down the tunnel toward Ethan Hunt and his team.

Ethan and the others had found it easier to enter the tunnel than expected. It had just taken one huge wave to hurl them from the cave upward into the tunnel mouth. Now with their special water resistant weapons in their hands they were steadily making progress into the castle.

When Harrison Xander rounded the corner and immediately dropped the weapon he was holding and put up his hands Ethan suspected some sort of trick.

He and the others trained their weapons on the former agent and ordered him to lie on the ground. The answer they got back was very surprising. "Look I haven't got long so just listen. Markus has betrayed me and left me to either get captured or killed. All I wanted to do in this mission was feel like a real agent again when in reality I was just a coward. But now I have one chance to actually be the agent I was meant to be, to seek redemption for past sins. Markus is probably escaping right now with the virus, and several million dollars. He will live to fight this battle another day unless you get him first. There are several angry buyers coming this way and all of them will be armed. I will decoy them away while you go get Markus", he looked at each of them steadily before settling his gaze on Ethan.

"You have no reason to trust me, but I am not taking that", he gestured to the gun.

"I will also not let myself be captured by enemies of our country", Xander swore firmly.

"You were willing to sell them our secrets", Benji retorted. "That was before Markus reminded me about what is important, loyalty. You should not just throw it away no matter what. He took a deep breath, "I killed my own team leader because I didn't want him to reveal that I froze on a mission. "It was my own guilt that turned to bitterness against IMF. Now I have a chance of redemption, to prove I really am still worthy. Let me do this", Xander pleaded.

Ethan had to make a snap decision based on what he had heard. He went with his gut and decided that Xander was telling the truth.

The price for treason was a heavy one and Ethan had a feeling that either way Harrison Xander was not making it out of this alive.

It was probably a stiff enough price to pay for what he had done. "Do it", he told the man.

Xander actually bowed, "thank you for a chance to restore my honor", he then turned and ran back in the opposite direction.

Seconds later the shooting began.

Ethan wasted no time leading the others quickly along the tunnel. He noticed spots of blood on the floor as they ran. Xander was probably hit but was still decoying the buyers away.

His gun at he ready he spun into each room while the others did the same.

It only took them a short time to establish that there was no sign of Markus Drey.

"Dammit ,he probably had an escape route all worked out", Benji moaned.

Ethan agreed with that, right now Markus was probably running fast and there was nobody…his thought froze, there was someone out there.

Markus had every reason to hate Brandt and may decide to take one final revenge before fleeing.

His heart beat was thumping as he pushed his walkie talkies button, "Brandt are you there", he asked.

"Of course where would I go", he forgave the sarcastic reply almost immediately.

"Markus is on the loose", he warned. "I know", the response was calm. Apprehension began to grow within Ethan again, 'what do you mean, you know".

"I mean I can see him right now", Brandt clarified. "Is he there", Ethan hurriedly asked. "If he was he would be bloody dead", Brandt replied fiercely. "He is heading for the boats in the cove".

Ethan broke off contact as more gunshots rang out from another part of the castle. "Jane, Benji, Luther you are going to have to deal with the rest of the buyers while I find Drey", he ordered.

"Don't worry about that", Ethan heard come from the walkie talkie. He only realized then that his finger was still on the button.

"Brandt you can't go after him", Ethan yelled. "I know that, just as I know that you are about to receive some help", Brandt replied.

Benji raised his eyebrows ,"how", he asked. "Markus dropped the firewall but did not intiate the virus therefore…",Brandt never finished because Jane, Luther, Ethan and Benji all yelled with relief, "IMF is back on line".

"Agents are seconds away", Brandt told them.

"Good they will get Drey", Ethan stated. "Oh nobody but me gets Drey", came back the reply from Brandt. Ethans mouth went dry, "but you just said you knew you couldn't go after him", he stated fiercely.

"I am not going after him, my gun is", came back the cryptic reply. "Brandt what are you talking about", Ethan demanded. All he got back was silence.

Ethan swore loudly. "I better go down to the cove, you guys deal with the hostiles".

He was about to turn and run off when a bullet slammed into the wall inches from his shoulder. "Brandt you are on your own", he thought as he prepared himself for battle.

Will had rolled the stretcher bed to the edge of the cliff where he could see all the boats waiting in the cove. There was no sign of Markus Drey yet. Scanning the area he saw a man come running out of the castles side door and stand at the top of the cliff. It was the programmer. Brandt gripped the gun fiercely realizing he was out of range.

Markus turned and their eyes locked. Markus felt some satisfaction in seeing that Brandt was badly injured. He did not attempt getting any closer to finish off the agent as he knew about his marksmanship and guessed he'd be dead before he got close.

Brandt had been clever in positioning himself at the lowest area of the cliff where the access to the cove and boats was easy. But Markus had never planned on easy.

He made sure Brandt could see him clearly as he looked up at the silver satellite dish mounted on the top of the castle. Reaching into his large coat pocket Markus came out with a spear like gun and shot a wire up to the satellite. It wrapped around securely. He then shot a grappling hook downward onto the biggest boats deck. The result was a long flying fox that would have him on the boat within seconds. He had gotten the idea from reading Hunt's mission notes about his escape from the hospital in Russia . Now it was his turn to pull off an amazing stunt while Brandt just lay there and ground his teeth.

Markus pulled off his belt, then put up his middle finger in a 'stuff you' gesture to Brandt. Running toward the edge of the cliff Markus jumped up secured his belt over the wire and found himself flying downwards.

He heard a gunshot come and laughed loudly, there was no possible way Brandt could injure or kill him at this range. Any bullet would be spent before it reached him. How terribly frustrating he thought as he whizzed along.

When a twanging sound filled his ears he suddenly realized that perhaps Brandt had never intended to hit him at all. In a horrible moment of clarity he felt his death approaching and knew he could do nothing about it. He had lost this battle, he began to fall.

Brandt had taken what would be considered by some as an impossible shot. But his eye and precision with a weapon was rated amongst the highest in the world. It was this skill that had made him a candidate for recruitment by IMF.

He had fired at the thin filament of wire supporting Drey's weight. To his satisfaction he saw the wire part . Markus seemed suspended for a second in mid air before plummeting straight down. All that was below him was rock and Brandt did not avert his eyes as Markus hit into that rock with an audible crack.

He lay there on the rock for a second unmoving until a large wave rolled up and washed his body into the sea.

Brandt felt relief pass over him as his eyes finally obeyed his screaming bodys command and slid shut.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ethan was taking cover behind a large metal vase. He could hear the ping of bullets against metal as they hit the vase and were deflected.

Around him the others were taking cover as well as the buyers tried to take them out.

By the sound of it there were at least 10 of them armed with semi automatics. "You have been betrayed so you might as well give up", he screamed out.

More gun fire was his response. These people were all enemies of the country and knew their fate if they were captured. Their angry hail of gunfire was focused on eliminating the people that stood between them and escape. Ethan had to cut down their numbers.

Looking carefully around the vase Ethan could just make out a shadow of one gunman. Holding his gun firmly he rolled out of the cover of the vase and across the floor. Bullets hit the ground on either side of him from the gunmen and from covering fire the others were giving him.

He could see the gunman now and was about to take a shot when he realized he was not alone. Another gunman was almost beside him and his weapon was trained on his head. Obviously the first gunman had allowed himself to be partly visible hoping to draw someone out of cover. Stupid mistake Ethan was his thought as he rolled quickly intensfying his efforts not to get hit. The others coud not see this gunman from their positions and would not be able to give him help. Ethan had seconds to take out two men, he knew deep down that it was simply not long enough. But he had to try. He was about to fire when a running figure crossed the room from another direction to stand in his path

He looked up to see Harrison Xander give him a thumbs up signal. "This is for my team leader", he shouted loudly. Seconds later Ethan could only watch as bullets ripped into Xander . He stayed upright for several seconds giving Ethan a chance to seek cover. Then he fell to the ground dead.

"Everyone you are surrounded, weapons down now", Ethan heard a sharp command as the help Brandt had summoned finally came to their rescue. It was over.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Epilogue 6 weeks later

Location IMF secure hospital undisclosed destination.

Ethan found Brandt sitting on his bed in a private room of the hospital. He looked a lot better with the colour returned to his face. It had been painful for Ethan to read the report on his injuries and realize how serious his condition had been. The doctors had said that Brandt would have died if he had not received medical attention within a few more hours.

That he had even managed to stay conscious was testimony to his incredible will.

Ethan smiled to himself for a second, "Will's will", he thought.

Then he smoothed his features, what he had come here for was serious and he had to be sure Brandt realized that.

His eyes were a little wary as he saw Ethan approach but his smile was genuine.

"I hear the first thing you asked was whether we were all alright", Ethan told Brandt.

Brandt just nodded. He could sense that this was no mere social visit and was feeling a little concerned over that fact. May be it was better to get all he had to say off his mind first.

"Ethan I knew there was a way into that castle and would have had no hesitation in taking it despite your order to stay put", he confessed.

A frown furrowed Ethans brow as he took that in. He could think of only one reason why Brandt would tell him that, he wanted off the team.

Brandts history of leaving teams sprung into his mind. Well he was not going to make it that easy, he opened his mouth to say something . "Don't throw me off the team", Brandt begged.

Ethan's mouth snapped shut as he rethought his response. Finally he stated, "I thought that was why you told me that."

"No, I just needed you to know that I could have disobeyed but I realized that my plan would not succeed because of my condition, Brandt responded somewhat nervously. He maintained eye contact as he stated firmly, "I would have jeopardized all of you and could not do that just because I was angry at Drey."

Ethan was glad to hear Brandt say that and allowed his team mate to see a smile, "I could not keep you on the team if you had thought anything else", he stated truthfully. Moving forward he sat himself on the side of the bed and was comforted that Brandt did not flinch away.

"I want you to promise me that you will not take any more solo missions Brandt. You are part of our team and need to accept our support and guidance", Ethan told him.

Brandt found his own smile appearing , Ethans request was now something easy to promise. "you have my word Ethan",he said. They shared a mutual smile before Brandt asked, "I missed the end of the mission Ethan what happened to the buyers'.

Leaning toward Brandt slightly Ethan told him, "Xander took out quite a few before he was shot. All the rest of them accept for one was taken into custody. The man who had purchased both the firewall and the virus was actually one of our own that the secretary had ordered to infiltrate the sale", Ethan stated.

He looked over to Brandt and saw that he was surprised, apparently he had not known the full plan either. It was how IMF worked and he supposed both of them had to get used to that.

"The joke really was on Markus then", Brandt concluded with a smirk.

Ethan stood up , "I realized that when we first met I forgot something important" he held out his hand to Brandt. Brandt took it and shook warmly, "welcome aboard agent Brandt I look forward to our next mission. Know I will never make it easy for you",Ethan told him with a twinkle in his eye. Brandt just grinned, " I would expect nothing else", he agreed. He felt warm safe and welcomed no longer needing or wanting to be on any other team.

Leaving shortly after that Ethan found Luther leaning against a wall in the hospitals corridor."How'd it go Ethan", he asked. "Well he's still on the team", Ethan mumbled. Luther noticed he had a far away look like his mind was elsewhere. "Is there a problem", he asked.

Because he knew Luther so well Ethan decided he could make this confession.

"Brandt told me he had figured out a way into the castle but didn't use it because he was injured. I was just trying to work out what his plan was"

Luther raised his eyebrows, "you mean you don't know", he was actually surprised. " At the time I could not see any other way in", Ethan admitted. "Now even if I go through every crazy idea in my head I still can't come up with how it could be done."His admission carried no trace of inferiority.

Luther whistled through his teeth. "Is he going to be your replacement one day",he dared to ask. Ethan shrugged, "I am not ready to give it up yet Luther. Brandt still has a lot to learn". Luther nodded, "so when are you going to tell him that he knew something you did not", he asked.

Ethan grinned, "never, I would not want him to get cocky". Luther laughed and Ethan joined in. Their laughter travelled down the a halls to where Brandt rested and recovered.

He wondered if he'd every learn what Ethan Hunt found to be so funny.

The End


End file.
